Israeli Air Force

The Israeli Air Force (IAF), formally the Air and Space Arm, is a highly advanced and combat-proven force structured to execute a wide spectrum of operations and uphold Israel's qualitative military edge. It operates as a branch of the Israel Defense Forces and is organized for aerial and space warfare, with its headquarters in Tel Aviv. Its functions are multi-faceted, including the protection of Israeli airspace, achieving air supremacy, supporting ground and naval forces, conducting deep-strike missions, and providing intelligence. The IAF has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to generate an exceptionally high daily sortie rate, sustained by an advanced C4ISR architecture and close integration with the ground forces, the navy and military intelligence.

The strategic doctrine of the IAF is deeply rooted in Israel's geopolitical context, emphasizing offensive operations and pre-emption to compensate for the country's lack of strategic depth. Historically, the doctrine prioritized achieving air superiority early in any conflict in order to neutralize enemy air threats and enable freedom of action for ground forces, as in Operation Focus during the 1967 Six-Day War. Over time it has evolved into a doctrine capable of executing strategic objectives far from Israel's borders, in which long-range strike, systematic suppression of enemy air defenses and precision intelligence are used to dismantle an adversary's military capacity rather than merely defeat its air force.

Recent years have brought an exceptional operational tempo. The IAF conducted extensive operations over the Gaza Strip until the October 2025 ceasefire, struck Hezbollah command nodes and Syrian air defenses in the intervening campaigns, and in June 2025 opened a direct campaign against Iran in the twelve-day Operation Rising Lion. The largest engagement to date began on 28 February 2026, when Israel launched Operation Roaring Lion in coordination with the American Operation Epic Fury. Within weeks the IAF had flown several hundred strike waves and hit more than 3,000 targets across Iran, systematically dismantling air defenses and striking nuclear, missile and leadership sites at ranges that demanded tanker support and extended-range configurations. During these operations an F-35I scored the first air-to-air kill ever credited to the F-35, downing an Iranian Yak-130. Fighting paused under a ceasefire in the spring of 2026 and resumed in July after the collapse of the negotiating framework.

Modernization is now driven directly by the lessons of that campaign. In May 2026 the government approved the purchase of a fourth F-35I squadron and a second F-15IA squadron, adding to the 75-aircraft F-35I programme and the 50 F-15IA aircraft already ordered from Boeing to replace the oldest F-15s; work is also under way with Lockheed Martin to extend the Adir's combat radius, a direct response to the distances flown against Iran. The large F-16I fleet remains the numerical workhorse and is being sustained with new munitions rather than replaced, while the KC-46 will eventually relieve a tanker fleet that proved to be the campaign's tightest constraint. Israel remains a world leader in unmanned systems, fielding long-endurance ISR and strike platforms alongside loitering munitions, and its layered air and missile defense architecture of Iron Dome, David's Sling and Arrow is being expanded after months of sustained Iranian ballistic missile fire, with the Iron Beam laser system entering service.