An Israeli Air Force fighter shot down a manned Russian and Iranian-made jet in the skies over Tehran this Wednesday (4), in what is considered the first combat between aircraft in the war that began five days ago.
The aircraft used by Israel for the mission is a state-of-the-art F-351 “Adir” stealth fighter, a variant of the American F-35A made only for use in the country’s Air Force. According to a military statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), this is the first time in history that a manned fighter jet has been shot down by an F-35 “Adir” fighter.
The operation resulted in the shooting down of an Iranian Yak-130 fighter over Tehran, a piece of military equipment of Russian origin from the 1990s that underwent a modernization process. It is considered an advanced trainer aircraft.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the aircraft is generally used by pilots of the more modern Russian SU-57 and other similar aircraft, but it can also be used as an attack aircraft.
According to the Israeli press, this is the first time in around 40 years that the Israeli Air Force has participated in aerial combat with manned aircraft. The last episode had occurred in November 1985, during an aerial combat with Lebanon, when Shimon Peres was Prime Minister of Israel and the then commander of the Israeli Air Force reported the shooting down of two Soviet-made Syrian MiG-23s with air-to-air missiles in Syrian territory, very close to the border with Lebanon.
US and Israel guarantee military superiority in the war with Iran
The joint strength of the US and Israel undertaken in the war testifies to the military superiority over Iran.
Israel claims to have carried out around 1,600 air strikes and dropped 4,000 munitions on Iran — more than it launched in the so-called Twelve-Day War in June last year.
Also on Wednesday, the Sri Lankan Navy confirmed that it had recovered several bodies after the sinking, off the country’s coast, of the Iranian Navy ship IRIS Dena, which had around 180 people on board, without specifying at the moment the exact number of dead, while search and rescue operations continue.
The US claimed a submarine attack against an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka took place this morning.
