Air power has long ruled in Middle East wars, but now, the times are different with new air war fronts. Israel’s F-35I Adir, a stealth plane, has not just given the Israeli Air Force a big tech edge, but has also shifted how air wars are fought in the area.
What distinguishes the F-35I Adir is not so much its stealth—it’s the way Israel has adapted it. Unlike the base U.S.-manufactured F-35A, the Adir is equipped with Israeli-developed electronic warfare packages, Israeli-made sensors, and the capacity to integrate weapons systems from local vendors due to a specialized plug-and-play design. Put that on top of conformal fuel tanks for longer range, and you have an airplane that can penetrate deep into enemy airspace to collect intelligence, jam radar networks, and deliver precision strikes—all without near-perfect stealth invisibility.
This advanced platform wasn’t constructed as a showpiece—it’s been proven in combat. In the last year, Israeli F-35Is were at the forefront of an aggressive aerial campaign over Iranian airspace. According to the National Security Journal, these stealth fighter jets provided safe avenues to accompany F-15I and F-16I planes so that they could bomb high-priority Iranian targets without the threat of retaliation. This campaign, labeled “Operation Rising Lion,” had the overall result of destroying Iranian air defenses, missile sites, and even central components of its nuclear facilities.
The statistics are sobering. According to Bridges for Peace, Israeli airstrikes destroyed more than 120 Iranian missile launchers and crippled the Natanz nuclear plant—destroying a third of Iran’s missile capacity. Real-time intelligence, precision drone strikes, and targeted killings of top Iranian military leadership left Tehran grasping to assemble a unified response. Even the highly touted Russian-built S-300 air defense systems were no match, either destroyed or disabled by Israeli electronic warfare.
On the other hand of this war, Iran’s air force has been revealed to be dated and divided. The IRIAF still relies on Cold War planes such as the F-4 Phantom, F-5, and F-14 Tomcat, with some Russian MiG-29s and Su-22s thrown in. A recent shipment of 24 Su-35s from Russia did little to alter the math—analysts at National Security Journal have dubbed it “too little, too late.” Several Iranian pilots, not eager to engage fifth-generation stealth fighters, chose to retreat when Israeli Adirs came into their airspace.
But whereas Israel is in control today, the Middle East is expecting a change. The focus is shifting to China’s J-10C “Vigorous Dragon” fighter, which might drastically shift the airpower balance. With an advanced AESA radar, datalink capability, and the heavy-hitting PL-15 missile, with a range of over 200 kilometers, the J-10C would be a force to be reckoned with for any regional air force.
Both Egypt and Iran are interested in the J-10C as part of their respective modernization efforts. For Iran, the acquisition of the Vigorous Dragon would be a substantial upgrade in capability and perhaps encourage Israeli aircraft to stay away from flying so aggressively along its borders. Egypt is also looking at the J-10C and PL-15 combination as part of an effort to increase its military suppliers beyond U.S. and European hardware.
This shift has made some in Israeli defense circles uneasy. The PL-15 has a longer range than the US’s AIM-120 AMRAAM, and China is open to selling its top tech. If Egypt buys this, it might risk Israel’s long-held top military spot—a spot usually kept safe by Western export rules.
The wider implications are obvious: Israel can keep air superiority for now, but competitors are narrowing the gap. An arms race is in full swing in the region. Saudi Arabia and the UAE will not sit quietly by, and the rise of China as a significant weapons supplier is making U.S. policymakers worry anew about sustaining strategic leverage.
For the time being, the F-35I Adir is a badge of Israeli aerial supremacy—technologically advanced, operationally bold, and tactically unrivaled. But Middle Eastern skies are far from static. With new technologies and new alliances coming on board, the fight for air dominance is heading into an unfamiliar, unpredictable era—an era that will be shaped as much in labs and backrooms as in the air.
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