With prior approval from Washington, Israeli F151 jets were scrambled and, minutes later, the installation and its newly arrived contents were destroyed.
So secret were the operational details of the mission that even the pilots who were assigned to provide air cover for the strike jets had not been briefed on it until they were airborne. In the event, they were not needed: built-in stealth technology and electronic warfare systems were sophisticated enough to ‘blind’ Syria’s Russian-made anti-aircraft systems.
F-15I's don't HAVE stealth capability. Which, if it really was an F-15I strike, is really bad news for anyone stupid enough to buy an SA-23 system from the Russians.
Really. The F-15 is about as stealthy as Mothra
There is passive stealth and active stealth. They aren't passively stealth. Now radars can only see what they are programed to see. If the actual return is masked be an overpowering false return which does not meet the threshold criteria, the radar may show nothing. The radar operator wouldn't even know its happening.
An all-important comma here: “In the event, they were not needed...”
I read this as the fighter planes were there to take out any attempt to shoot down the missle(s)? that delivered the actual strike.
I paused a long time at this particular phrasing and wished the author had elucidated his point.
And if it wasn't and F-15I strike, that's also an interesting detail...
F117’s and B-2’s have stealth capability, but only the US has them.
Speculation can lead to madness, but could the Israeli’s be providing cover for a covert US mission?
Or maybe a joint mission, Israeli commandos supported by US airpower?
It’s probably not, but who can say, except those who know? And those who know can’t say.
2. No US aircraft were directly involved.
3. F-117's are on the road to the scrap bin. Most have already been retired.
4. Russian stuff is CR$P.
5. We wouldn't have touched that mission directly on a bet.