Will Israel Opt For F-35B Vertical Takeoff Fighter Jets?

Israel may soon decide to acquire another squadron of the stealthy fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. Might it choose a different variant of this advanced warplane than it has operated to date?

Israel is already the first country ever to use the F-35 in combat, most likely making that debut in the skies above war-torn Syria in 2018. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) took delivery of its first F-35s back in December 2017.

Israel’s first 19 F-35s are the standard air force F-35A variant most common in air forces that have received the fifth-generation fighter to date. The other 31 are the F-35I ‘Adir’ variant built to incorporate Israeli-built hardware, making it a unique version of the advanced jet. 

The F-35B is a short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft while the C variant is designed for operating from aircraft carriers.

“The third squadron is likely to be equipped with the F-35I variant of the U.S. Air Force’s F-35A but it is still possible that the F-35B short take-off and vertical landing variant will be acquired for a fourth squadron, making the IAF less vulnerable to ballistic missile attacks against its runways,” noted Israeli military analyst Yaakov Lappin.

Israel’s adversary Hezbollah in Lebanon possesses thousands of increasingly longer-range and accurate surface-to-surface missiles. This means the Shiite militia could potentially overwhelm Israel’s advanced air defenses and cripple its airbases in the event of war. 

Israel is aware of this threat and has considered modifying its military to deal with it. Back in 2018, then-Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman suggested that Israel establish a “missile corps” to rely less on its air force in the event of an all-out war with Hezbollah and possibly Iran too.

“There is no reason we won’t be able to strike every single target with intensity and precision, even without jets,” he said. “We absolutely must have an alternative to the air force. We can’t afford to put all our eggs into one basket, no matter how sophisticated that basket may be.”

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) reportedly wants a mix of F-15IA (Israel Advanced) fighter jets and F-35s going forward. The F-15IA can “carry a payload of some 13,380 kilos, such as 12 air-to-air as well as 15 air-to-ground or air-to-maritime strike weapons equipped to engage multiple targets simultaneously.” 

Such a jet would be well suited for Israel given its preference for quickly achieving air superiority and relying on superior firepower and technology to defeat its adversaries.

Although Liberman insisted Israel must prepare for alternatives to the air force, acquisition of the F-35B might improve the IAF’s survivability in the event of a major war.

It would be Israel’s first STOVL jet that could give the IAF the ability to disperse such valuable warplanes to several smaller airfields across the country in small numbers, which would make them harder for Hezbollah or Iran to target or quickly destroy in significant numbers with missile strikes.

Israel could adapt something resembling the Bas 90 system that the Swedish military implemented during the Cold War. Under that force dispersal system, Swedish jets were scattered across several small airfields around the country, many of them in forests or even public roads doubling for runways. Swedish jets were built with short take off and landing (STOL) capabilities so they wouldn’t need long runways. Mobile motorized ground crews would also keep these jets armed, fueled, maintained and constantly ready to fight.

The system was designed this way to make it substantially harder for the Soviet Union to knock out Sweden’s air force on the ground with air, missile, or even nuclear strikes. 

Today, such force dispersal techniques are being actively explored by the U.S. Air Force, which fears that long-range Chinese missiles could promptly destroy U.S. airbases and aircraft in the Pacific. 

Given Israel’s small size, the adaption of a similar system using F-35Bs, which require even less runway space to take off than those Swedish STOL jets, might make some sense.

After all, it could minimize the damage Hezbollah could potentially do to these jets. Such a system, perhaps operated in tandem with something like Liberman’s “missile corps” proposal, could also enable the Israeli military to recover quickly from any early losses caused by enormous Hezbollah missiles strikes and afflict a decisive retaliatory blow against the group.

However, some in the Israeli military have expressed their reservations about acquiring this particular version of the F-35.

“It can extend the range of the air force and gives more opportunities that would enlarge the operational envelope of the IAF, but it carries fewer weapons,” a senior Israeli Air Force officer told The Jerusalem Post. 

Given its military’s preference mentioned above for firepower, “fewer weapons” could well end up being a dealbreaker for Israel despite these potential advantages the F-35B could provide it.