Israeli Air Force pilots during the ceremony marking the closure of the IAF's 117th Squadron at Ramat David Air Force Base, Sept. 30th, 2020. (IDF Spokesperson's Office)
According to the IDF description, the new unit is structured as a rapid-response force with helicopter mobility and significantly upgraded perimeter systems.
Israel has quietly added a new “shield” around its most sensitive assets: the Israel Air Force bases. The IDF says a new elite base-defense unit has been created under Wing 7, sitting alongside Shaldag and Unit 669, with a mission to guard airbases against another October 7–style surprise.
Unlike Shaldag and Unit 669, which are built to strike deep in enemy territory and rescue downed pilots, the new formation is focused inward: securing runways, command centers, fuel farms, and munition depots inside Israel.
It is being folded into Wing 7, the Air Force’s special forces wing headquartered at Palmachim, which already commands three combat units, including Shaldag, Unit 669, and Unit 5700.
Wing 7 was created to give the Air Force its own joint special operations hub, bringing together air commandos, combat search-and-rescue operators, and forward airfield specialists under one roof.
Adding a dedicated base-defense force means the same elite ecosystem that inserts troops behind enemy lines will now also be responsible for defending the “home front” of Israel’s air power.
The move is a direct lesson from October 7, when Hamas terrorists overran IDF positions and exposed painful gaps in how some bases and adjacent communities were defended.
Later probes into the failures at several southern posts, including at border crossings and coastal areas, highlighted slow response times and unclear chains of command at the very moment civilians needed fast, decisive protection.
According to the IDF description, the new unit is structured as a rapid-response force with helicopter mobility and significantly upgraded perimeter systems.
In practice, that means teams that can be flown quickly between bases under Wing 7’s helicopter umbrella and plugged into new layers of cameras, sensors, and physical barriers around each base.
Shaldag, one of Israel’s most secretive commando units, brings decades of experience in covert raids, targeting, and operating inside hostile territory.
Unit 669, the Air Force’s tactical rescue unit, specializes in pulling wounded soldiers and civilians out of impossible situations under fire.
The new base-defense unit is designed to complement them: not by joining glamour raids abroad, but by making sure a terror squad never again walks into an Israeli airbase unchallenged.
Strategically, the stakes are huge. IAF bases are the launchpads for everything from deep strikes against Hamas and Hezbollah to air cover for ground forces and missile defense operations.
If terrorists were to damage runways, control towers, or ammunition stores during a surprise attack, Israel’s ability to respond across the region could be slowed at exactly the wrong moment.
The new formation under Wing 7 signals that the Air Force is not waiting for the next commission of inquiry.
It is reshaping its own security doctrine so that elite, combat-tested units are responsible for both the daring missions the public hears about—and the quiet, relentless job of making sure no one ever again turns an Israeli base into an easy target.
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