Israeli Air Force makes history with the F-35, shooting down Iranian jet

Israeli pilot shoots down Iranian fighter jet, marking the first time ever that the US-built F-35 stealth fighter has scored an air-to-air kill of a manned aircraft.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s air force made history this week when an Israeli pilot became the first person ever to shoot down a manned fixed-wing aircraft in an F-35 stealth fighter.

On Wednesday morning, the Israeli military announced that an Israeli Air Force F-35I “Adir” – a variant of the American F-35 Lightning II fighter jet – successfully shot down an Iranian fighter jet during an encounter over the Iranian capital.

The shoot-down took place in Tehran’s airspace Wednesday morning, an IDF spokesperson said.

The downed Iranian plane is a Yakovlev Yak-130, a light combat aircraft built by Russia.

Primarily designed as a trainer aircraft, the Yak-130 is substantially outclassed by the F-35I, a front-line multi-role fighter with advanced avionics, stealth technology, and vastly more powerful engines, enabling the F-35 to hit speeds up to Mach 1.6, compared with just over Mach 0.9 for the Yak-130.

This is not the first time the Israeli Air Force has made history with the F-35.

On March 15, 2021, IAF F-35Is shot down at least two Iranian drones, marking the first air-to-air kill with an F-35.

The shootdown, which was not publicly revealed until March 6, 2022, took place after several IAF F-35Is were scrambled to intercept Iranian drones detected en route to Israel.

The drones were shot down before they entered Israeli airspace, the IDF said in 2022.

“The IDF activity was carried out far from the border and did not threaten civilians or facilities,” an IDF spokesperson said.

“UAV interceptions were carried out in the area’s skies in coordination with neighboring countries, thus preventing intrusion into Israel. The UAVs were monitoring the control and detection systems throughout their flight.”