Less than 48 hours after the beginning of hostilities against Iran, Israel announced full air superiority over the western region of the country, including the capital city Tehran. This achievement contrasts sharply with the failure of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which have not been able to establish air dominance during more than three years of war in Ukraine, reports Baltimore Chronicle citing The Wall Street Journal.
The publication emphasizes that the lack of air control was one of the main reasons for Russia’s protracted and exhausting war, accompanied by heavy losses. Retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General David Deptula noted that the absence of air superiority resulted in a stalemate in Russia’s war against Ukraine. He pointed out that neither side in this conflict has managed to achieve dominance in the airspace, leading to a war of attrition. By contrast, Israel has been able to operate effectively precisely in the areas where it established air superiority over Iranian territory.
WSJ also notes that Israel likely learned from Russia’s mistakes and Ukraine’s strengths when planning its own campaign. However, according to military officials and analysts, the decisive factor was that Israeli Air Force units were initially more effective than the Russian ones, while Ukraine’s defense was significantly stronger than Iran’s.
Retired British Air Marshal Edward Stringer remarked that Israel’s success is explained by complex training, innovative approaches, and deep integration of its Air Force with intelligence and cyber capabilities. He emphasized that Russian aviation is largely reduced to training pilots to operate “flying artillery,” whereas Israel employs much broader capabilities.
Similar to Ukraine, Iran lacks combat aircraft capable of successfully engaging in air-to-air battles. However, as WSJ highlights, unlike Kyiv, Tehran failed to organize an effective ground-based air defense system that could have significantly limited enemy aircraft operations.
Another critical factor was the element of surprise. When, in 2022, U.S. intelligence warned Ukraine of the impending invasion, Ukrainian Armed Forces managed to disperse and camouflage most of their mobile air defense systems. After several losses of aircraft over Ukrainian cities, Russian aviation ceased operating deep behind Ukrainian lines — a situation that persists to this day.
Unlike Ukraine, Iran was completely caught off guard. According to WSJ, Israeli special forces infiltrated Iranian territory and, using drones, destroyed key air defense facilities. Israel also eliminated a significant portion of Iran’s military leadership.
Israeli geopolitical analyst Michael Horowitz stressed that Israel’s actions against Iran resemble what Russia had planned to do in Ukraine. Specifically, the Kremlin hoped for a quick infiltration into Ukrainian government structures and decapitation of political leadership, but this strategy failed due to the resilience of Ukrainian society.
At the same time, according to the expert, the authoritarian regime in Iran has very low popular support, which creates conditions for internal collaboration with foreign operations. Despite Iranian ballistic missile attacks on Israeli cities, the initiative, as the publication notes, remains with Israel — at least in the short term.
Earlier we wrote that Egypt cuts gas supplies amid Israeli field shutdown.