Israel showed the ‘power’ of F-35s in destroying nearly all of Iran’s air defenses without a loss, UK admiral says

• The UK’s top military officer confirmed Israel used F-35s during its October strikes against Iran.
• Adm. Tony Radakin said the operation demonstrated the “power” of fifth-generation aircraft.
• His remarks come after Elon Musk criticized the F-35 and its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin.

Israel showed the “power” of the F-35 stealth fighter jet during its late October retaliatory strikes against Iran, Britain’s top military officer said on Wednesday.

Adm. Tony Radakin, the UK’s chief of defense staff, disclosed that Israel used its F-35s to carry out the widespread October 26 strikes against military sites across Iran, including air-defense systems and missile-manufacturing facilities.

It appeared to mark the first confirmation from a Western government that Israel had used its fifth-generation aircraft in the operation, which came in response to a massive Iranian missile attack at the start of the month. It was reported at the time that Israel flew its F-35s and fired air-launched ballistic missiles.

“Israel used more than 100 aircraft, carrying fewer than 100 munitions, and with no aircraft getting within 100 miles of the target in the first wave, and that took down nearly the entirety of Iran’s air-defense system,” Radakin said during a Royal United Services Institute lecture in London.

“It has destroyed Iran’s ability to produce ballistic missiles for a year and left Tehran with a strategic dilemma in how it responds. That is the power of [fifth-generation] aircraft, combined with exquisite targeting and extraordinary intelligence,” Radakin said. “And that was all delivered from a single sortie.”

He said the operation demonstrates the “disproportionate advantage of modern ways of fighting.” Business Insider contacted the Israel Defense Forces about Radakin’s remarks but has yet to receive a response.

The F-35 is a single-engine, multi-role stealth aircraft made by US defense contractor Lockheed Martin. There are several variants of the fighter jet, which took its first flight nearly 20 years ago and are now flown by a handful of countries around the world.

Israel was the first to use the F-35 in combat in 2018. It operates just under 40 F-35I jets, a subvariant of the F-35A model, although this fleet will expand to 75 in the coming years.

The F-35I is Israel’s only fifth-generation aircraft. It also has older, American-made F-16 and F-15 fighter jets.

Radakin’s praise of the fifth-generation platform comes after Elon Musk criticized the F-35, the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program but widely considered a cornerstone of US airpower. The SpaceX CEO and advisor to President-elect Donald Trump took to social media last month to rag on the aircraft over its design and brushed off its stealth capabilities. Airpower experts quickly pushed back on some of his remarks.