By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The Israeli Defense Forces appear to be holding off a major ground invasion, at least in coming days, likely for intelligent reasons given the known amount of anti-armor weapons Hamas has.
Instead, they appear to be attempting to leverage air superiority, despite the known difficulties of targeting Hamas from the air, as they are known to hide among civilians, stay in underground bunkers and draw upon previous combat experience against the IDF to evade ISR and air-targeting. Also, years of public reports have indicated that indeed Iran has sent some of its Russian-built S-300s to Gaza, something which could complicate IDF efforts to attack from the air.
What about Israel’s special F-35i Adir variant? The are now reported to operate at least 35 of their specially engineered F-35i Adir variants of the F-35, a 5th-generation stealth plane engineered with a distinct, Israeli-engineered jamming pod, electronic warfare system, guided bombs and air-to-air missiles. An interesting essay from Aviation Week as far back as 2010 says Israel’s F-35i also operates with its own internal weapons bays as well.
The US-engineered F-35 is known to operate with extremely significant, advanced EW, yet perhaps Israel has developed its own system tailored to threats it may encounter in its region?
How might the IDF use its F-35i Adir against Hamas? Given that there does not appear to be a credible air-threat from Hamas, at least not at the moment, the IDF would most likely draw upon its F-35i’s advanced sensing technology, EW and precision weapons. Infrared and long-range, high-fidelity EO/IR, such as that known to exist in the F-35, might help bring a drone-like, yet piloted measure of ISR to IDF efforts to hunt and attack Hamas. Should a precise Hamas target be seen or pinpointed, and “targetable” in a way that minimizes or avoids civilian casualties, a manned F-35 might be able to attack with precision with little-to-no-latency. Also, a formation of F-35i Adir’s could also use the Joint Strike Fighter’s advanced Multi-function Advanced Datalink (MADL) to connect a broad formation of F-35s to one another and share targeting detail between manned and unmanned aircraft in real time. In this respect, the Israeli F-35s could perform collaborative ISR as well as precision targeting.
No real “air threat to Israel”
Many of Israel’s regional threats such as Iran or militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah would of course not present an air threat to Israel in terms of aircraft.
Apart from the question as to whether Hamas’ air-defenses would present a threat to Israeli F-35s, the IDF 5th-gen aircraft could likely form wider-envelope maneuver formations using MADL. It is also likely that a stealthy F-35-armed IDF Air Force might be able to elude air defenses and certainly avoid air-to-air combat. Specialized EW, however, might prove particularly beneficial for the IDF as they may be positioned to jam the sensors, radars and targeting systems from Hamas ground-fired weapons. Advanced EW weapons can also help to “discern” particular frequencies or “deconflict” the spectrum in order to best identify and target Hamas electronics. New generations of EW can identify hostile or threatening frequencies and RF signatures to establish a “line of bearing” and succeed in jamming or disabling enemy communications or weapons guidance systems.
The F-35A now operates with a BAE-built AN/ASQ-239 EW system, which its developers say introduces 360-degree detection, greater ranges and signal fidelity, and advanced countermeasures. Advanced EW systems are able to simultaneously operate on or even jam a number of different frequencies, accurately discern threats and signals, and enable key countermeasures such as frequency hopping.
Frequency hopping is an interesting technology wherein an EW system is engineered to essentially “counter” a countermeasure. For instance, perhaps an EW signal or RF-reliant weapons guidance system is jammed or attacked by an enemy, frequency hopping would enable the offensive EW systems to continue to operate by “hopping” to another frequency to avoid interference.
It would not be surprising if Israel’s F-35i were able to replicate this kind of EW technological sophistication, and the IDF appears to have its own indigenously produced EW system.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization and Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization and Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
