Israel’s rapid expansion of its air force amidst the current multi-front war is transforming the nation into a major military power.
Although Israel doesn’t have aircraft carriers or the ability to project its air power globally, the decision to proceed with additional F-35 purchases makes Israel a global leader in the use of the 5th-generation aircraft. Israel will become one of the largest users of the F-35 and likely the global leader per capita in terms of aircraft.
According to Lockheed Martin data from the end of January 2026, there are currently 20 countries using the F-35. These include large users like the US, with some 2,000 aircraft in multiple services.
The UK has acquired 138 of the warplanes, while Australia wants 100 of them, Canada has procured 88, and Italy wants a total of 115.
In addition, Japan is acquiring 142 of the planes, and South Korea has 60. Israel will now have 100 of them in four squadrons, making it a major user. For a country of Israel’s size and population, this is a lot of 5th-generation aircraft.
Israel's air force leads the defense effort
Israel has shown throughout the recent multi-front war that began with the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that it will use its air force to confront threats around the region. This has included around 939 days of combat on numerous fronts. Israel has had to fight Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran. There was also one airstrike in Qatar.
Israel’s air force has led the way in this effort. While Israel has a large and advanced ground force and has also bolstered its navy in recent years with the acquisition of the Sa’ar 6 corvette and new submarines, the air force is Israel’s long arm in terms of being able to carry out wars around the region.
Israel’s growth as a military power has not gone unnoticed. Recent reports indicate that other powerful countries in the region are becoming more wary of what they perceive as Israel’s quest for regional dominance.
This is particularly true in Ankara and may become more of an acute issue in Riyadh and Cairo. Historically, it is Egypt, Turkey, and a few other countries that have had large armies in the region.
The Soviet and then Russian-backed Assad regime once had a large army decades ago. However, it withered and became weak during the Syrian civil war, and now the new Syrian government does not have a strong force.
Egypt, once also a Soviet armed state, transitioned to US backing after the Israel-Egypt peace deal. It has recently carried out training in Sinai, and there is a perception that Egypt is concerned about Israel’s rising power.
Saudi Arabia is another country that has plowed billions into defense spending. Since the 1980s, Israel has been concerned about some Saudi purchases of US defense systems.
A key element of Israel’s support from the US has been the concept of maintaining a Qualitative Military Edge (QME), which implies that Israel needs to be able to defeat any one adversary in the region in combination with other adversaries.
The QME concept mattered more during the era of conventional military forces. However, many of the countries in the region with conventional forces have been weakened. For instance, the Saddam regime, which had a large Soviet-supplied conventional force, was weakened in the 1991 Gulf War. Iran’s air defenses and its forces have been weakened by two rounds of Israeli and US attacks.
Turkey was not seen as a threat by Israel until relatively recently. As a NATO ally, it is knit into the Western alliance system. It was once also part of the F-35 program. This ended when Turkey acquired Russia’s S-400 system.
However, Ankara remains a close partner of the US, NATO, and Europe. Turkey is also one of the few countries in the region that has a strong local defense industry, similar to Israel. Ankara is also plowing large sums into its defense industry, the same way Israel has done in the past years.
In many ways, the new Israeli investment in the air force and the rapid expansion of the armed forces are a result of the October 7 massacre.
Before October 7, the concept in Israel was to invest in hi-tech and AI but to keep the ground forces leaner.
The concept that Israel would want rapid maneuver and multi-dimensional units, with lots of special forces. This was apparently suited to fighting small conflicts against terrorist groups.
The October 7 attack showed that Israel faced a long war on multiple fronts, requiring at least five IDF divisions at a time, and also the full use of the air force. Where Israel had been considering retiring the Apache attack helicopters, now the country wants more.
In addition, between 2005 and 2025, Israel had basically put off buying much-needed new heavy-lifter helicopters. Now Israel is getting new CH-53K helicopters. It is also finally going to get more refuelers, after delaying purchases for decades.
The 2005-2025 period didn’t put off all military acquisitions. Israel modernized its tanks, rolled out new air defenses, got new ships, and also built new advanced artillery. But a lot of this was still on the lean side, rather than the big muscle side.
The first F-35s arrived in 2016 and saw combat in 2018 for the first time. In the beginning, Israel wanted 50 of the advanced aircraft, and then moved to acquire three squadrons or 75 of them. Now Israel wants 100 of them.
“The Ministerial Committee on Procurement has approved the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD)’s plan to simultaneously acquire two new fighter squadrons: a fourth F-35 squadron from Lockheed Martin, and a second F-15IA squadron from Boeing. The deals, valued at tens of billions of NIS, include full fleet integration into the Israeli Air Force, comprehensive sustainment, spare parts, and logistics support,” Israel’s Ministry of Defense said on May 3.
Israel has used its air force heavily in recent years. This included making it the workhorse of the mission against Hezbollah and also Iran. It also carried out long-range strikes on the Houthis.
Israel’s work with the US Central Command has also helped Israel achieve new milestones in the region. The foundation for this was set years ago with joint training with the US. In addition, the foundation of Israel’s air superiority goes back to the 1960s. Israel used its air force in the Campaign Between the Wars in Syria, which was aimed at preventing Iranian entrenchment.
While the air force is impressive, there are limitations to the use of new hi-tech weapons and precision strikes. The multi-front war has shown that enemies can be degraded and weakened, but are not decisively defeated solely from the air.
As such, Israel’s new push for regional and even global power in terms of its air force will always come up against the limitations of what military force can accomplish.