F35I Penetrated Iranian Airspace

[nn8734]

According to this N/I article, Israeli F35s penetrated Iranian airspace undetected and photographed several air defense sites in 2018

Very interesting if accurate
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/ ... n-airspace

[sprstdlyscottsmn]

That was over a year ago. The firing of the Air Defense Minister is telling.

[smsgtmac]

I'll remain skeptical on this 'development' until a source I trust confirms it. Until then...

[usnvo]

One thing about stealth platforms (aircraft and submarines) is that they work great for psychological operations. For instance, you could claim your aircraft flew over a country with impunity when they didn't get anywhere near it or a submarine penetrated a harbor without being detected when they were never anywhere nearby. It is impossible to prove a negative, that they didn't fly over your country, and the more a country protests its innocence, the more it convinces the other country that they did it. You can also observe their reaction which tells you a lot about what a country will do if you did decide you have the need to fly over said country at some time in the future.

[optimist]

I think skeptical is too kind. When there are so many superior platforms for a photo, than a F-35. As well as having their own reconnaissance satellites, they would have good access to the US system.

[nathan77]

Over the last few years it has become so cheap to launch micro-satellites with high quality optics that companies like Planet can provide an image of anywhere on the planets surface at minimum of once a day - with a resolution that is useful for surveillance of IADS.

The only reason you would want an aircraft is if you needed persistent or real-time surveillance - for example trying to catch Iran attaching mines to ships (which is how the Global Hawk was downed).

So I don't believe Israel would need to fly a F-35 over Tehran.

[archeman]

Photographs are certainly a nice-to-have on a recon flight.

However, there is so much more to collect in the electronic sphere that is not readily available from small platforms high above the atmosphere. Telltale diesel generator engine ignition system clicking from inside this little hidden valley shacks, concentrations of cell phones over there, guidance frequencies for unmanned equipment from a small tower over here.

Getting an electronics platform to geo-map and overlay the active systems on the ground is a very informative 'overlay' to your satellite pictures.

[vilters]

Anybody calculated range versus time over area in the current configuration?
Possible take off and landing airports?