page_title: Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
section_title: Israel
hierarchical_section_title: Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II / Operational history / Israel
caption_attribution_description: English: The "Adir" jets first flight in Israel. Pictured: "Adir" jet and F-16I "Sufa". Photo by: Maj. Ofer עברית: הטיסה הראשונה של מטוסי ה"אדיר" בשמי ישראל. בתמונה: מטוס ה"אדיר" ומטוס ה"סופה". צילום: רס"ן עופר
context_page_description: The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Lockheed Martin is the prime F-35 contractor, with principal partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. The aircraft has three main variants: the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A, the short take-off and vertical-landing F-35B, and the carrier-based F-35C.
  The aircraft descends from the Lockheed Martin X-35, which in 2001 beat the Boeing X-32 to win the Joint Strike Fighter program. Its development is principally funded by the United States, with additional funding from program partner countries from NATO and close U.S. allies, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Canada, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and formerly Turkey. Several other countries have ordered, or are considering ordering, the aircraft. The program has drawn much scrutiny and criticism for its unprecedented size, complexity, ballooning costs, and much-delayed deliveries.
context_section_description: The Israeli Air Force declared the F-35 operationally capable on 6 December 2017. According to Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida, in July 2018, a test mission of at least three IAF F-35s flew to Iran's capital Tehran and back from Tel Aviv. While publicly unconfirmed, regional leaders acted on the report; Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei reportedly fired the air force chief and commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps over the mission.
  On 22 May 2018, Israeli Air Force chief Amikam Norkin said that the service had employed their F-35Is in two attacks on two battle fronts, marking the first combat operation of an F-35 by any country. Norkin said it had been flown "all over the Middle East", and showed photos of an F-35I flying over Beirut in daylight. In July 2019, Israel reportedly expanded its strikes against Iranian missile shipments; IAF F-35Is allegedly struck Iranian targets in Iraq twice.
caption: The F-35I Adir (accompanied by a 253 Squadron F-16I Sufa) on its debut flight in Israel, December 2016
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