What Iran and Israel would wield in a long-range air war
STORY: Iran’s first direct attack on Israel – which Tehran says was in response to a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy in Damascus – has brought renewed focus on the countries' air forces and defense systems.
Here’s a look.
The Iranian air force has 37,000 personnel.
And a former Israeli air defense chief says Iran is a “superpower in tactical ballistic missiles and UAVs,” or unmanned aerial vehicles.
But decades of international sanctions have largely cut the country off from the latest in high-tech military equipment, according to the Institute for Strategic Studies – or IISS – in London.
The air force only has a few dozen working strike aircraft, including some models acquired before the Iranian revolution of 1979.
Iran has a squadron of nine F-4 and F-5 fighter jets, one squadron of Russian-made Sukhoi-24 jets, and some MiG-29s, F7 and F14 aircraft, IISS said.
Iran also has pilotless planes designed to fly into targets and explode. Analysts believe this drone arsenal numbers in the low thousands.
Analysts also say Iran has more than 3,500 surface-to-surface missiles, some of which carry half-tonne warheads. However, the number capable of reaching Israel may be lower.
For defense, Iran relies on a mixture of Russian and domestically produced surface-to-air missile and air defense systems.
Similar systems have been deployed in Syria since 2015, giving Israeli pilots years of experience in dealing with them.
A research fellow at IISS said that the country does not have the comprehensive air defenses that Israel has.
Israel has an advanced, U.S.-supplied air force with hundreds of F-15, F-16 and F-35 multipurpose jet fighters.
The air force lacks long-range bombers, though a smaller fleet of repurposed Boeing 707s serve as refueling tankers that could enable its fighters to reach Iran for pinpoint sorties.
A pioneer in drone technology, Israel has Heron pilotless planes capable of flying for more than 30 hours, enough for far-flung operations.
Whether Israel is willing to risk a direct strike would partly depend on how confident it is that it can thwart further attacks by Iran.
Israel's multi-layer air defense is built around the high-altitude Arrow system.
The highest-altitude system is Arrow-3, which intercepts ballistic missiles in space. An earlier model, Arrow-2, works at lower altitudes.
There’s also the mid-range David's Sling and the short-range Iron Dome which has fended off thousands of rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon.
But these do not come cheap.
Although Israeli officials have given no details, analysts calculate the price of Iran's attack probably amounted to $80 million to $100 million - but cost Israel and its allies around $1 billion to repel.
Brigadier-General Doron Gavish, head of Israel's air defense task force, said Israel has been working overtime to rebuild its stockpiles in preparation for another possible attack from Iran or its proxies.
