Current listings show the IDF combat/strike capable aircraft at 368 (these are all F-16s and F-15s with recent upgrades kits - thoroughly modern aircraft).

Current listings show the Iranian Air Force with an estimated flyable complement of 182 planes. Of these planes only 35 are modern (Russian MiG 29s) with all the rest being obsolete, ancient, badly maintained or entirely untested in combat. Of those 182 aircraft, the 147 older ones include F-14s which were sold to the Shah (so over 30 years old and without a proper logistical tail for that entire time) a whole raft of F-4 Phantoms, some Mirages captured/defected from the Iraqui air force and a tiny handful of untested new Iranian Aircraft which might be amazing and which might also entirely suck.

Then we can compare the pilots - virtually all the Israeli ones have combat experience and extensive training and are from a very modern, successful forward thinking military. The Iranian pilots have never fired a shot in anger and come from a very restrictive and politically based military. They also don't train a lot save possibly with each other. Their ability in the air will be poor.

And that's just air superiority we're talking. The Iranian Airforce would vanish in a day and be lucky to get more than a handful of Israeli planes with that mix.

Keep in mind that Iran is not the only one who has ballistic missiles. Israel has the excellent Jericho II which is nuclear capable if need be.




You have a complete lack of understanding of what you're talking about here.

Stealth aircraft are not necessary in any way. Virtually no stealth aircraft were used to plaster the Iraquis and very few planes (stealth or otherwise) were lost to AAA or the Iraqui air force. At the time of those actions the Iraqui military was the world's 4th largest (after China, the Russians and the US). Iran's is nowhere near that large.

The kinds of facilities that Iran uses to produce nuclear fuel are large, industrial facilities. They are not some kind of James Bond underground bunker buried in a volcano. Just like every other country's they are great big fat soft targets. They are easily destroyed/disrupted by even a few strikes from modern aircraft.

Make no mistake, Israel HAS the capability to reduce Iran's air force to nothing and bomb the heck out of them at will, should it choose to exercise it. But that wouldn't be needed. A small group of planes moving in darkness with some CAP to protect them could easily wreck Iran's nuclear ambitions and keep wrecking them every time they tried to rebuild.

At this point, it's just not worth the political capital to do so. Better to let everyone else natter on at the Iranians and stay out of it.

But make no mistake, should Iran ever actually DO anything overt to threaten Israel the hammer would come down VERY hard and very fast and Iran would not be happy about it.

Oh, by the way, my job in the USAF was Target Intelligence Specialist. This kind of airstrike planning was what I did for a living. For YEARS.