Do the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) really need the F-35, its high cost notwithstanding? To tackle this question, the essay below first identifies the F-35’s unique features as a fifth generation fighter jet. It then examines the operational need for the F-35 through the prism of the Israel Air Force (IAF), specifically, the aircraft’s ability to complete missions successfully in today’s reality. The premise is that the ability to achieve aerial superiority is a key to effective use of the airpower: the discussion clarifies what precisely is necessary to achieve in order to enjoy aerial superiority and the effect that superiority has on how the force is used. Although a full discussion of the radical change in today’s threat and its effect on achieving aerial superiority lies beyond the scope of this essay, the growing strength of Israel’s enemies, both in theory and in practice, poses a central challenge to what once seemed assured: the IAF’s achievement of aerial superiority. The essay clarifies whether the F-35 can provide a solution to the problem and whether a sufficient response might be provided by other alternatives.
The discussion of alternatives to the F-35 is limited to options that will be available in the near future, and does not examine alternatives in the initial planning stages, whose capabilities and costs are impossible to predict. This focus is essential for an informed, concrete discussion of IAF force buildup in the IDF’s five year plan. Future alternatives cannot play a role in fighter jet contracts signed today. However, a discussion of advanced (and distant future) alternatives to the traditional understanding of aerial superiority as a key to the effective deployment of the air force is not irrelevant and may, in fact, be essential. However, it requires separate and comprehensive deliberations and should not influence present force buildup; the defense establishment would do well to engage in that debate regarding future force buildup.
The F-35 is a fifth generation fighter jet. Its unique advantages include:
a. Stealth technology / low signature, which allows the jet to deal with airborne and land-based radar and perform even in areas defended with surface-to-air missiles or advanced planes. Its edge lies in the capability to handle threats independently while flying through the operational spheres, as opposed to fourth generation planes, which are dependent on a system-wide response.
The discussion of alternatives to the F-35 is limited to options that will be available in the near future, and does not examine alternatives in the initial planning stages, whose capabilities and costs are impossible to predict. This focus is essential for an informed, concrete discussion of IAF force buildup in the IDF’s five year plan. Future alternatives cannot play a role in fighter jet contracts signed today. However, a discussion of advanced (and distant future) alternatives to the traditional understanding of aerial superiority as a key to the effective deployment of the air force is not irrelevant and may, in fact, be essential. However, it requires separate and comprehensive deliberations and should not influence present force buildup; the defense establishment would do well to engage in that debate regarding future force buildup.
The F-35 is a fifth generation fighter jet. Its unique advantages include:
a. Stealth technology / low signature, which allows the jet to deal with airborne and land-based radar and perform even in areas defended with surface-to-air missiles or advanced planes. Its edge lies in the capability to handle threats independently while flying through the operational spheres, as opposed to fourth generation planes, which are dependent on a system-wide response.
b. Network capability: The plane has information sharing and shared operational capabilities with other planes and means of combat, thereby allowing greater operational output.
c. Sensor fusion: The plane allows the pilot to deal with a large amount of information gathered by the plane itself that arrives through the network, thereby allowing for full utilization of the plane’s and the system’s capabilities.
d. The plane is built with economic considerations in mind, i.e., operation at reasonable costs (compared to advanced technologies and capabilities).
The need for the F-35 is derived from the Air Force’s missions, which are driven by the need to deter Israel’s enemies from embarking on a war and to serve as a central means of victory in the event that a war nevertheless breaks out.
THE STRATEGIC EFFECT OF THE AERIAL BALANCE OF POWER
The decision on whether or not to go to war is affected primarily by a comparison of power between the sides, with airpower being a primary factor in this equation. For example, Sadat was prepared to launch the Yom Kippur War only after he was guaranteed aerial superiority that could protect Egyptian forces on the east bank of the Suez Canal. The understanding that he would not have aerial superiority outside the range of the surface-to-air missiles was what made him curtail his goals for the war. Similarly, the absolute superiority displayed by the Israel Air Force in the First Lebanon War in attacking the surface-to-air missile batteries on the Syrian-Lebanese border and the aerial battles that followed was a significant factor in Syria’s decision not to open a second front on the Golan Heights. The fact that the Syrians managed to delay the IDF’s advance on the eastern front of Lebanon might perhaps have encouraged them to think they could deal with the IDF on the Golan Heights as well, yet they remained deterred.
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