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F-35I – Image: From the net
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17.10.2017
It looks that the Israeli “demonstration of power” during the
recent visit of Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has turned into a total
failure.
On October 16, Shoigu arrived Israel for meetings with Israeli
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. The sides were reportedly set to discuss the situation in the
region, including Syria, the fight against terrorism as well as military
and technical cooperation.
At the same day, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that its
warplanes targeted an anti-aircraft battery of the Syrian Air Defense
Forces that had launched a missile at Israeli aircraft flying
over Lebanon.
“The army targeted the battery with four bombs and, according to
the IDF, the battery was damaged to the extent it was no longer operational.
The army said the battery targeted was the same that fired at Israeli jets last
March, prompting Israel make use of its Arrow anti-missile system for the first
time,” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on the issue.
The Syrian military confirmed the Israeli strikes and said
that they caused “material damage.”
It’s interesting to note that, according to the Syrian Defense
Ministry statement, Israeli warplanes violated Syria’s airspace on the border with
Lebanon in Baalbek area. The incident took place at 8:51 am local
time.
Could the Israeli Air Force intentionally provoke the reaction from
the Syrian military in order to justify the strike on the Syrian air defense
battery?
Furthermore, some pro-Israeli experts and media activists clearly
linked the incident with the visit of the Russian defense minister to Tel
Aviv saying that it was a nice demonstration of power to the
Russian-Iranian-Syrian alliance.
However, something went wrong.
According to the available information, the Syrian Defense
Forces used a S-200 missile against the Israeli warplane. This
Soviet-made missile is the most advanced long range anti-aircraft system
opearated by the Syrian military. Even in this case, it’s old-fashioned in
terms of the modern warfare.
Despite this, the Syrian Defense Ministry said in its statement
that government forces responded to the violation of the airspace
and “directly hit one of the jets, forcing [Israeli aircraft] to retreat.” This
statement contradicts to the Israeli claim that “no hit” was confirmed.
Few hours after the missile incident with Syria, the Israeli
media reported that the Israeli Air Force’s F-35 stealth multirole
fighter went unserviceable as a result of an alleged bird collision
during a training flight.
The incident allegedly took place “two weeks ago” but was publicly
reported only on October 16. However, Israeli sources were not able to
show a photo of the F-35 warplane after the “bird collision”.
Furthermore, it is not clear if the F-35 can become
operational again because its stealth coating was damaged. Thus,
according to the Israeli version, the warplane reportedly became
no longer operational after the bird collision despite the fact that
the F-35 earlier passed the bird strike certification with great results (official
info here). The F-35 is the world’s most expensive warplane. The price
of developing the F-35 is now about $406.5 billion.
Israel is actively buying the world’s self-proclaimed most advanced
fighter paying about $100 million for each plane.
So what did really hit the F-35?
Original post: southfront.org
Pro-Russian media are claiming that an Israeli F-35I was hit and
damaged by a Russian-made S-200 surface-to-air missile during an Israeli air
strike in Syria
Did a Russian anti-aircraft missile hit one of Israel’s new F-35
stealth fighters?
Pro-Russian media are claiming that an Israeli F-35I was hit and
damaged by a Russian-made S-200 surface-to-air missile during an Israeli air
strike in Syria earlier this month. Israel says one of its F-35s was
damaged—after colliding with a bird.
The story begins on October 16, when Israel announced that its
aircraft had struck [3] a Syrian SAM battery near
Damascus that had fired two hours earlier on Israeli reconnaissance planes
flying over Lebanon. The attack damaged the missile battery, and no Israeli
aircraft were hit, according to Israel. Coincidentally or not, the incident
happened the same day that Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, arrived in
Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister
Avigdor Lieberman.
However, Southfront.org [5], a website that covers the
Russian military and its intervention in the Syrian Civil War, suggested a
different story. “According to the available information, the Syrian Defense
Forces used a S-200 missile against the Israeli warplane,” Southfront claimed.
Southfront could not resist pointing out that a much-vaunted F-35
stealth fighter had been hit by a missile that dates back to the 1960s. “This
Soviet-made missile is the most advanced long range anti-aircraft system
operated by the Syrian military. Even in this case, it’s old-fashioned in terms
of modern warfare.”
However, the evidence cited by Southfront seems rather tenuous.
Hours after the Israeli military announced the strike on the Syrian missile
battery, Israeli media reported that an Israeli F-35 had been damaged by a bird
strike two weeks before (Google translation here [7]).
The plane reportedly landed safely, but the Israeli Air Force did admit that it
wasn’t sure whether the plane will fly again. Israel has taken delivery of only
seven F-35Is so far, with a total of fifty on order.
“The incident allegedly took
place ‘two weeks ago’ but was publicly reported only on October 16,” Southfront
noted. “However, Israeli sources were not able to show a photo of the F-35
warplane after the ‘bird collision.’”
Southfront didn’t explain why the Israeli Air Force would feel a
need to release a photo of a damaged stealth aircraft. As U.S. defense website The Drive [9] points out, the F-35 is just
entering Israeli service now, and wouldn’t likely be flying missions over Syria
just yet unless there was some kind of emergency (and Israel has plenty of
F-15s and F-16s to handle those right now). Nor is it optimized for the kind of
photographic reconnaissance missions that Israel flies over Lebanon.
As The Drive summed up rather neatly, “Although we cannot rule the
possibility out entirely, as Freud would say—sometimes a bird strike is just a
bird strike.”
In any event, what’s most interesting about this story isn’t
whether an F-35 was hit by a Russian missile. Like the existence of UFOs, the
story may or not be true, but we need more than circumstantial evidence to give
it any credence.
No, the interesting part is that the F-35 has become such a symbol
of U.S. technological prowess—or incompetence—that any rumor
that an F-35 has been damaged or shot down in combat will draw attention.
Russia and its boosters will pounce on any suggestion that an F-35 has been
hit, and no doubt the pro- F-35 crowd will counter those suggestions
accordingly.
Already there are reports [10]—again, just reports—that
Israeli F-35s have flown combat missions. Given that the U.S. and Israeli air
forces are among the most active in the world, sooner or later the F-35 will
really, truly see combat. But the rumors are out there now.
This is just the beginning.
Michael Peck is a contributing writer for the National
Interest. He can be found on Twitter [11] and Facebook [12].
Original post: scout.com
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