- State affiliation · Israel
- Vigil category device · not official insignia
Identity provenance
State affiliation: Israel.
Vigil category device — drawn from this record’s own domain, echelon and role. Not an official insignia.
In brief
Israel's air arm and the service that opened both wars — the organisation that struck Iran at extreme range in June 2025 and again from February 2026, and that also owns the multi-layered missile defence through its air-defence array.
- Scope
- Structure, role, lineage and links. 1 subordinate record published.
- Subordination
- Subordination confirmed
- Sources
- 3 on the record
- Record state
- Partial
- Broad area of activity
- Israel and, by long-range strike, Iran and the region
- Notable history
- The Israeli air force is the service through which Israel became a belligerent in this system. It conducted the opening strike of the June 2025 war, which killed the chief of Iran's General Staff, the Guard's commander and the Aerospace Force's leadership, and the opening strike of the current war on 28 February 2026, in which Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed. It flies American F-35s, F-15s and F-16s with the tanking and intelligence enablers that make strikes at that range possible, and it also owns the ground-based missile defence — Arrow, David's Sling and Iron Dome — through its air-defence array, so that offence and defence against Iran sit in one organisation. The campaign has concentrated on the Iranian regime and its security institutions rather than on the energy and maritime system this module is about, in parallel with the American one and not under a joint command.
- Strengths
- Demonstrated strike at extreme range against a defended state, an intelligence performance against Iranian leadership without obvious precedent, and integrated missile defence under the same command.
- Limitations
- Israel publishes less about its campaign than CENTCOM does, which makes it the harder of the two to source; the service's own accounts are positions. Sustained operations at that range depend on enablers in short supply. Nothing here describes bases, numbers, sortie rates, routes or how any strike was carried out.
Subordinate formations
Rows are layout only — position and order carry no hierarchy, importance, sequence or strength. Every record shown is an immediate subordinate of the selected organisation.
Campaigns
Campaigns naming this organisation as a participant. The campaign record owns the relationship and grades it; this list is computed.
- The 2026 interstate war Primary force · Since 28 February 2026 · moderate confidence · as of 2026-09
The Israeli service that conducted the opening strike; identification below the state is Vigil's.
- The Houthi campaign against Red Sea shipping, 2023–2025 Opposing force · November 2023 – October 2025 · moderate confidence · as of 2025-09
Struck Hodeidah on 20 July 2024 and Houthi-held Yemen repeatedly in 2025. The sources name Israel; the service identification is Vigil's.
Key events
The twelve-day war between Israel, the United States and Iran
Israel begins strikes on Iran on 13 June 2025; the United States strikes three nuclear facilities on 22 June; a ceasefire is announced on 24 June.
Campaign involvement
United States and Israeli strikes on Iran open the war
A large-scale United States and Israeli strike campaign against Iran begins. The Congressional Research Service records more than ten thousand targets struck in Iran by 25 March, and reports the operation's cost as exceeding $11.3bn in its first six days — a figure it notes excludes many associated costs. Iranian retaliation against Israel, United States facilities and Gulf states begins the same day.
Quick actions
System access
Where this record connects into the rest of Vigil. Each row is here because this organisation actually reaches it.
Assessed as of — 2026-09 Last reviewed — 2026-09-09
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