VIGIL CONSILIUM
Context. Not headlines.
Equipment catalogue · shared across conflicts

Combat aircraft · Stealth multirole fighter

F-35I Adir

Israel's stealth fighter, modified to an Israeli specification — the aircraft most associated in reporting with the deep strikes on Iran in 2024, 2025 and 2026, and with the December 2024 campaign that destroyed most of Syria's air defences and aircraft in days.

F-35 Lightning II United States, Israel Israeli service entry 2017

Status as of
2026-09
Last reviewed
2026-09-09

AssessmentModerate confidence

Recognition context, not a stat sheet. The catalogue covers major publicly documented systems relevant to the conflicts Vigil covers — not an exhaustive order of battle. No quantities, availability or current allocations are recorded.

The record What this system is, where it comes from, who operates it and which of Vigil’s modules it is relevant to — with the evidence each of those rests on.

Fielded Evidence: Documented
Silhouette · not to scale

Record

FamilyF-35 Lightning II
VariantsF-35I Adir
OriginUnited States, Israel
ManufacturerLockheed Martin
EraIsraeli service entry 2017
Appears inIran–Gulf 2026 war · Twelve-day war 2025 · Syria December 2024 strikes

Conflict relevance

This is the catalogue's single record for this system. It is relevant to the modules below; each module's Force Atlas shows how it is used there.

Iran–Gulf · Force AtlasSyria · Force AtlasLevant · Force Atlas

Operators

Israel and the Gulf · Primary operatorIsrael and Syria · Primary operatorIsrael and the Levant · Primary operator

Israel and the Gulf: The Israeli variant, with Israeli electronic-warfare and weapons integration. · Israel and Syria: Reported in the December 2024 strike campaign across Syria and in subsequent operations over Syrian airspace. · Israel and the Levant: The same aircraft in the Levant module (Levant P3): air strikes in Gaza and Lebanon; one record, not a second copy.

Battlefield role

Penetrating strike and suppression of air defences at the opening of a campaign; the aircraft that goes first.

Strengths

Low observability against exactly the long-range air defences Iran fields, Israeli modifications the export standard lacks, and a combat record over three countries.

Limitations

A small fleet whose deep-strike missions depend on tanking and on enablers in short supply, and an aircraft whose every loss would be a strategic event. Numbers, bases and sortie rates are not recorded.

Campaign relevance

Derived: a participant organisation in these campaigns carries a typed equipment association with this system. That is not the same as documented use of the system in the campaign itself.

Documented conflict use

Reported in the strikes on Iran of October 2024, June 2025 and 2026, and in the December 2024 Syria campaign; the Israeli air force publishes little and the attributions are reporting.

Branch & service operators

Partial Confidence: Moderate Sources: IISS Military Balance↗ · Established international media reporting · Reuters↗ Methodology Corrections

Assessed as of — 2026-09 Last reviewed — 2026-09-09