Last year, there was an important report that went unnoticed by the US media for more than a year. There is some confusion on this matter.
Israel was reported to have flown its IAF (Israeli Air Force) F-35I Adir planes (flight of three) over Iran and conducted photo recon over Tehran, Karajrak, isfahan, Shiraz, and Bandar Abbas.
This plane is the American F-35 adapted to specific Israeli requirements, hence the designation F-35I. It is a stealth warplane.
The question has been — how stealthy is the F-35? How would it perform v the Russian S-300 missile system and its supposedly cutting edge radar array?
Point of order: Greece, NATO ally, had purchased the Russian S-300 after their mid-1990s spat with Turkey over the Kardak islets sovereignty. The Greeks later gave the US one of the S-300s which the Americans tore apart to develop measures that overcame the Russian capabilities. Who says having NATO friends is all bad?
Iranian air defense systems — which includes cutting edge Russian radars, including the S-300 — failed to detect the entry, the exit, or the presence of these Israeli stealth planes that stayed on station for an extended period of time over the most sensitive Iranian facilities including underground nuke manufacturing facilities. In other words, they were circling where they might have to bomb in the future.
It was a very real test of capabilities — the planes and the defenses. Scores as follows: IAF 100 v Iran 0 v Russian radar 0.
When the Iranians learned about this, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei fired the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force commander, Brigadier General Farzad Ismaili, who had been in office since 2010.
BG Ismaili had assured the Iranians that Iran was safe from foreign intrusion. Turned out he was blowing smoke.
BG Ismaili was so concerned that he had kept the info from the Ayatollah, Supreme Leader version. This pissed the Supreme off and the BG got sacked.
This is a big bloodletting and would never have been executed except for an article in a Kuwaiti newspaper, Al Jarida. Somebody had, of course, planted that story right before things got shitty with the US and Iran. I guess I should say “shittier.”
Iran has been a bad actor for decades.
This happened back in March 2018 and is only now being reported in the West.
So what, Big Red Car?
Dear reader, this F-35 is the plane that President Trump was going to use to punish Iran for its downing of an American drone. The Israelis got in and out without detection and circled sensitive military installations with impunity.
What does this say about American capabilities? It says that our Air Force and their hardware are badasses. That the F-35 is a badass. That anybody on the receiving end of this badassery is going to be hurting when they leave.
The Israelis even photographed the Iranian Russian S-300 missile radar systems — the exact radar systems that could not detect the F-35s.
Here is the Russian S-300 looking for birds during a dove hunt north of Tehran. Once you knock these babies out, it is a turkey shoot for our Air Force.
What it also says is that if it comes to a shooting war with the Iranians, our F-35s will be flying down their throats undetected. That is a tech advantage that will be ………………………………….. deadly.
Thought you needed to know this. It’s important.
Bottom line it, Big Red Car
The IAF flew Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fight, the F-35, hundreds of miles from Tel Aviv to Iran — entered, exited, hung about Iranian airspace with impunity and undetected, flew home (without refueling) with a belly full of pics of the most sensitive military installations in Iran.
Game. Changer.
This has to give the Ayatollah indigestion, the idea that Israel and the Americans have F-35s in the region at the same time.
Side point: Turkey — a notoriously untrustworthy ally and NATO member — was in line to get the F-35, but that is not likely to happen because they have crawled into bed with the Russians and the S-400 missile program (including radars).
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car and I am not as much of a badass as an F-35. Respect, Air Force. Love you zoomies.
