Is the IAF large enough to counter threats?

B

benaakatz

Active member
This is a question for Sherman and the other Israelis, although anybody can answer.

Do you think the IAF's aircraft inventory is large enough to counter the surrounding arab countries' and iran?

Fighters Boeing F-15 Eagle United States air superiority fighter F-15A "Baz" F-15B "Baz" F-15C "Baz" F-15D "Baz" 20[14] 6[14] 17[14] 10[14] Upgraded Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle United States strike fighter F-15I "Ra'am" 25[14]
Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon United States mulitirole fighter F-16A "Netz" F-16B "Netz" F-16C "Barak" F-16D "Barak" F-16I "Sufa" 59[14] 14[14] 78[14] 48[14] 102
Upgraded


Thats 379 aircraft.

Are the old F-15/16s (not the ones with the 'I' designation) still a match for modern fighter jets?

Possible threats:

Iran still has F-14s, F-5s, F-4s, Mig-29s, Mirage F1s, Su-24s, Su-25s, and Chinese J-7s (mig-21 copy). Not great overall, but still a threat.

Iraq, still at war with Israel, is seeking to purchase F-16s.

Egypt has Mirage 5s, Mirage 2000s, F-4s, F-16s, Mig-21s, and J-7s. Plus they are looking at procuring advanced Mig 29s, Su-35s, JF-17s, more F-16s, and possibly Rafales and Mirage 2000s. A very big potential threat.

Bahrain has F-5s and F-16s.

Algeria has Mig-23s, Mig-25s, Mig-29s, Su-24s, and Su-30s.

Jordan has Mirage F1s, F-5s, and F-16s.

Kuwait has F/A-18s.

Lebanon is getting Mig-29s.

Libya has Mirage F1s, Mig-21s, Mig 23s, Su-22s, Su-24s. It is procuring Rafales and is looking at Mig-29s and Su-30s.

Morocco has Mirage F1s, F-5s, and is getting F-16s.

Oman has F-16s and is looking to purchase Typhoons.

Qatar has Mirage 2000s.

Saudi Arabia has F-15s, F-15Es, F-5s, Tornados, is getting Typhoons, and is talking about procuring Rafales.

Somalia has F-15s and F-16s on order.

Sudan has J-5s, J-7s, Mig-29s, Mig-23s, and F-5s.

Syria has Mig-21,23,25,29s, Su-22s, and Su-24s.

Tunisia has F-5s.

UAE has F-16s and Mirage 2000s.

Yemen has F-5s, Su-22s, Mig-21s and Mig-29s.

Most of these countries would probably never attack Israel, but they could contribute aircraft. The threat is in the quality of some of the aircraft and the overall quantity of all these countries aircraft, even if only a few were to attack israel. Do you think Israel's air force can defend the country against all these (potential, however improbable) threats?
 
The big question with Arab air forces is how many of the planes are actually air worthy.

Also the IAF has advantages in air-control, electronic warefare, air-to-air missiles, and pilot training over most(tempted to say all) of these states.
 
And Israel also has a much better SAM defense umbrella, radar coverage, ELING/SIGINT/satellite surveillance (as well as human intelligence) and cross-platform network-centric integration that enables Israeli C&C know and take the proper action the moment something under watch becomes a threat. In addition, IAF pilots also get NATO-level training and log longer flight hours than most, if not all, of the foe air forces mentioned. IAF is a continuous participant of top-level military air excersizes like the Red Flag and Anatolian Eagle (which is as realistic as it gets with real ammo, evolving scenarios and the use of actual Russian bloc hardware like S-300) and often train with TuAF and other allied air forces.

IMHO, none of the mentioned AFs have any chance against IAF on a one-on-one, no outside interference basis.
 
ok, lunatic, but what about this hypothetical situation?

egypt, jordan, syria, lebanon, iraq, and saudi arabia all use their air forces....kinda like a 1967 all over again. :(
 
i think u ment 1973?
well in my opinoin if the command would want to inflict great damage to those countries,not only by air force it can,but as mentioned before,the Israeli pilots are well tranied and have decent air crafts with far better equpment(i dont know what it's name but there is that helmet with which a pilot just has tolook at his target and pull the triger,the missle will hit).
how many air-crafts all these countries have together?
 
yup,but i dont think that many leaders would jump happily just one one or two breakthroughts and risk the lives of many other soldiers.
 
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