On June 29, a news video from local Russian media showed that the Israeli Air Force’s F-35 fighter failed to hit its target due to powerful electronic interference.
It is reported that the reason why Israeli fighter jets did not hit the target was because Russia’s powerful electronic suppression system interfered with the Lockheed Martin F-35’s weapon system. During a military exercise involving Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, neither fighter jet hit its target.
Pat Sattam, a defense analyst at Eurasia Times, said that this video shows that the air-to-surface missile launched by the F-35 does not focus on the target, and the electronic interference comes from the Russian system. This also highlights the vulnerability of the fifth-generation fighter aircraft F-35 in electronic countermeasures.
Although an electronic warfare system similar to the Russian "Krasuka-4" is indeed very effective in interfering with American drones, it seems incredible for Russia to interfere with Israeli military exercises within their territory.
The only place where Russia would interfere with Israeli air operations would be in Syria where both sides have a deconfliction mechanism that allows the Israeli air force to strike Iranian targets. For several months, they have also provided Buk missiles to the Syrian army to deal with Israeli AGMs.
Under normal circumstances, Russia will only use electronic warfare means in Ukraine or Syria. The above-mentioned reports also have a certain degree of credibility. Russia has specially installed anti-drone and electronic warfare systems at the Khmeimem Air Force Base in Syria to prevent air and space surveillance.
Russian electronic jammer can interfere with the signals of GLONASS, American GPS, European Galileo and Chinese Beidou satellite navigation system . Therefore, aircraft, drones, or missiles will see errors in their GPS receivers.
Even in March 2021, there were reports that the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellite was interfered over the Black Sea. Some OSINT experts and telecommunications experts believed that this was radar interference.
Now assuming that Russia did interfere with Israel's domestic military exercises, it may be because Russia believes that their relationship with Iran is very tense. Israel is also trying to build a regional alliance to confront Iran.
The Israeli Air Force has also upgraded the F-35 to increase its range so that it can fly to Iran without aerial refueling. This is enough to give the Israeli Air Force the ability to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.
The Israeli Air Force also does not have to rely on their only seven Boeing 707 aerial tankers, which makes the deployment of F-35 more flexible. In addition, the Israeli Air Force also plans to update its existing tanker fleet with KC-46.
It is reported that engineers increased the range by carrying additional external fuel to the F-35's drop tank . But this will also significantly increase the radar signal. Therefore, the F-35 is likely to discard the fuel tank and pylon before entering Iranian airspace.
The other is designed as a conformal, embedded fuel tank, which reduces the impact on stealth and overall performance. The conformal fuel tank is an additional fuel tank that can be tightly installed in the shape of an aircraft. In 2019, Lockheed Martin considered adding two 600-gallon drop tanks under the F-35 as a solution to increase range. It can provide approximately 40% additional fuel volume.
Basic The F-35A fighter jet has a publicly advertised combat radius of 1046 kilometers, which means that the Israeli Air Force’s F-35s are unlikely to cross the Iranian border. In addition to Lockheed Martin's original solution, the design capabilities of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Cyclone, a subsidiary of Israel's Elbit Systems, cannot be underestimated.
In addition to increasing the range, the Israeli Air Force has also developed a new type of bomb that can be stored in the aircraft's built-in bomb bay without damaging the invisible radar signal.
The bomb weighs about a ton and is similar to the U.S. GBU-24 Paveway laser-guided bomb or the GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition.
Last week Israel simulated a large-scale strike against hundreds of Iranian aircraft as part of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "Chariots of Fire" series of exercises.
