The F-35 Rumor Mill Is Spinning After Israeli Counter Strike On Syrian SAM Site

[DemolitionMan]

TYLER ROGOWAY

A day after Israel's counter attack on a Syrian SA-5 surface-to-air missile site we are learning more about the incident, and unfortunately, some questionable outlets and commentators are spreading rumors that imply one of Israel's F-35Is was the aircraft targeted by Syrian missiliers, and that the aircraft was damaged in the attack.It appears that the first sortie put "more than one" aircraft “within the effective range” of the Syrian SA-5 missile that fired at the flight according to an Israeli Defense Forces spokesman. The engagement supposedly occurred at around 9AM local time. It remains unclear the exact mix of Israeli aircraft that were in the air at that time. Some reports state it was a flight of F-16s, others tell us it was a composite flight including an F-15C executing photo reconnaissance duties while operating closer to the border than its escorts. As mentioned in our first article on the incident, the F-15C is known to carry large tactical reconnaissance pods for the IAF. As we noted previously, Israel maintains that all its aircraft returned to base unscathed, while Syria claims they scored a hit on one of the fighters during the initial SAM attack. The Assad government usually claims false victories anytime something like this occurs. But some have taken an unrelated report about an F-35I, one of just seven in Israel's inventory at this time, being damaged by a bird strike as some sort of coverup for an F-35I being successfully targeted and hit by the Syrian SA-5 while over Lebanon. In other words, under this theory the reconnaissance aircraft was an F-35I.

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/15212/the-f-35-rumor-mill-is-spinning-after-israels-counter-strike-on-syrian-sam-site

[edpc]

Not out of the realm of possibility. The Israelis like to use their new toys to fine tune their effectiveness.  Contrary to popular belief, stealth aircraft are not invisible - they have low observability.  Serbs were able to track and engage the F-117 using old SAMs by using longer wavelengths and good positioning.