F-35I Adir: The Stealth Fighter the U.S. Military Can’t Fly

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Key Points: The Israeli F-35I Adir, a customized version of the U.S. F-35A, has solidified Israel’s air dominance in the Middle East.

-Equipped with advanced stealth, jamming pods, and precision-guided munitions, the F-35I excels in reconnaissance, air defense, and ground attack missions. Its networked capabilities and upgrades tailored to Israel’s needs, such as enhanced electronic warfare and intelligence systems, make it a formidable asset.

-With a third squadron of 25 F-35Is set to arrive by 2028, the Adir ensures Israel’s military edge while strengthening U.S.-Israel ties through “fighter diplomacy.”

F-35I Enables Israeli Air Force to Flex Its Muscles – The Israeli F-35I is nicknamed the “Adir,” which means mighty, strong, or mighty one in Hebrew – a moniker taken from the Biblical book Psalms and chosen by a public survey. Israel received its first F-35I Adirs in 2016, and is a customized version of the F-35A the U.S. Air Force flies. In fact, no other nation flies the F-35I Adir.

The F-35Is are currently protecting the Homeland and going after numerous ground targets in Gaza and Lebanon. When the F-35Is began arriving in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Our long arm has become longer and mightier.” The F-35I offers the Israeli Air Force stealth capabilities to win potential dogfights against Iran if the two countries ever tangle and is more survivable in contested air spaces.

Sensor Shooter Is Highly Advanced

The F-35I also allows Israel to hit targets in Syria. It is unique to Israel and the components are updatable. The Israelis have made improvements to the F-35 that include command and control, computers, communications, and weapons capabilities. The Israelis also depend on the F-35I for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance duties. It’s a “sensor shooter.”

The Cost Is Worth It

The F-35Is fly out of Nevatim Air Base in central Israel. The second Israeli Adir squadron stood up in 2020. The F-35I is expensive to keep in the air costing an estimated $44,000 an hour to fly. But the enhancements that have made the F-35I such a formidable airplane make up for the cost. The airplane has a jamming pod and can engage in adept electronic warfare aspects of flight. Each F-35I networks well together.

F-35I Adir. Image Credit: IDF Flickr Page.

“Imagine a system that can simultaneously operate or even jam multiple frequencies, accurately identify threats and signals, and enable key countermeasures like frequency hopping,” according to BulgarianMilitary.com.

Dominating the Skies

Israel’s enemies do not have fifth-generation fighters like the Adir, and these stealth fighters establish automatic air dominance. The F-35I is also great at eliminating enemy missiles fired from Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Adir can jam drones and knock them off their flight path, giving Israel unprecedented air defenses when combined with the Iron Dome and David’s Sling defenders.

F-35I Adir: Armed Well for Modern Aerial Combat

F-35Is carry an assortment of Sidewinders and AMRAAMs. They used those to shoot down two Iranian unmanned craft in 2021. The F-35Is also drop precision-guided JDAMs at ground targets. The Adir was believed to be the airplane that attacked the Iranian embassy in Syria in April.

Israeli-American ‘Fighter Diplomacy’

In June of this year, the Israeli Air Force agreed to a transaction for a new squadron of 25 F-35Is worth $3 billion. They will be delivered by 2028. I call this “fighter diplomacy.” The deal strengthens ties between the United States and Israel at a time when the U.S. government, particularly the White House, Department of State, and Department of Defense, have been critical of Netanyahu’s military actions against Gaza and Lebanon. The United States worries that air strikes in those countries killing terror honchos like Hezbollah mastermind Hassan Nasrallah has escalated the military situation in the Middle East. The DOD has even readied some U.S. forces to be potentially deployed in the region should the war expand to Iran.

Image: Creative Commons.

A third squadron of F-35Is gives the Israeli Air Force unprecedented control over the battlespace in the Middle East. The Israelis are unlikely to lose the stealth fighter in combat and aside from an accident, they will keep the F-35I and its multi-mission role intact as a platform that can perform air defense or ground attack mode.

Pilot Friendly

It appears Israeli pilots have taken to the F-35I and have endured no steep learning curves to operate it. The F-35I quickly took to the skies in combat situations after the first Adirs arrived.

Israel’s F-35I program must be considered a rousing success. It gives Israel one of the most advanced fighters in the world that outmatch anything the state’s enemies can fly. Its air defense capabilities have been excellent, giving Israel another option to shoot down enemy cruise missiles and drones. It can also collect intelligence data as the flying computer sucks up targeting information on terrorist hiding places, enemy weapons caches, and rocket launchers. The F-35I will be a workhorse in the future and a national champion which gives Israel a great sense of pride.

About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood

Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare, plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood. This first appeared in National Security Journal.