The Kfir was developed in the 1970s to meet the requirements of the Israeli Air Force for an effective fighter-bomber, meant to perform better than the Mirage III.
The Kfir was powered by a General Electric J79 engine. With one engine, the Kfir achieved supersonic speed (Mach 2.3) and offered advanced electronic warfare capabilities- making it very much a platform in its era.
The Kfir was specially designed to suit Israeli strategic requirements by being fitted with an all-inclusive electronic warfare package, including a radar warning receiver, missile approach warning system, and chaff and flare dispensers.
The aircraft is also well equipped with advanced avionics and can carry a variety of air-to-air as well as air-to-ground weapons, such as Python 4 and Python 5 missiles, AGM-65 Maverick, AGM-84 Harpoon, and AGM-142 Popeye.
First flight in 1975, the Kfir saw many air-to-ground roles during the 1982 Lebanon War.
Although it has been supplanted by the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the Kfir continued to serve and was exported to Colombia, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, and the United States, where it is a standard aggressor aircraft in training.
Fast-forward to the 21st century, and with great fanfare, the Israeli Air Force turned over to the F-35I Adir, an adaptation of the F-35 meant to suit Israel’s requirements.
The F-35I became sensational overnight by breaching into Mazzeh Airport in Syria in January 2017 targeting a warehouse that may be shipped off to Lebanon.
For months it was regarded as controversial and unverified, yet this operation involved a demonstration of stealth capabilities on the part of the F-35I.
The Israeli military has confirmed that the F-35I will enter its first combat in May 2018.
After that, it performed a series of sorties, including against Syrian air defense networks and Iranian military bases in Syria; the latter confirmed all the penetrating capabilities of advanced Russian air defense systems.
Its stealth capabilities were thrust to the forefront in response to an allegedly reported incident in which the F-35I reportedly flew over Syrian and Iranian airspace unnoticed, claims the Russian Defense Ministry dismisses as “groundless”.
Clear-cut evidence was not forthcoming from either camp, but these incidents have, in any case, imprinted on the popular imagination a reputation for the F-35I as a cutting-edge stealth fighter.
This is Israel’s quest for air power to date Kfir to F-35I: From an early indigenous aircraft, the Kfir depicts one statement of Israel’s development of indigenous aircraft in the earlier years.
While this F-35I represents something in a more modern way of stealth and combat capability, a full-fledged superpower in the region.