US Air Force B-52H strategic bombers made another combat mission to the Middle East. reportedly, they proceeded through Israeli airspace. F-15 "Baz" fighters of the Israeli Air Force were raised to escort American aircraft..
This kind of escort, as well as the next flight of American "strategists" B-52H "Stratofortress", discussed in foreign media.
In particular, raises the question of, why the Israeli command did not send fifth-generation F-35 Adir fighters to escort American aircraft? Whether in jest, whether seriously Western observers have put forward the assumption that, that to accompany the B-52H were raised "not the most modern fighters with not the most modern missiles, since the B-52s themselves are not new at all ".
And in the military-thematic section of the American edition of The Drive, material was published, which literally says the following:
Two of the Israel Air Force escort planes had an interesting armament layout.. Instead of the latest air-to-air missiles, which are in service with the Israeli Air Force, they flew with obsolete missiles.
For American experts, this has become a kind of mystery..
In particular, indicates that, that the F-15 "Baz" used modifications of the AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, which have been in operation since 1956 of the year. I.e, operation of such missiles in 2021 year marks the 65 years.
from the article:
There is no real explanation for, what unique circumstances led to the need to use AIM-7 instead of, eg, AIM-120 AMRAAM.
And yet the author makes an assumption. noted, that “it could be the tiny size of Israel, when the capabilities of the AIM-120 missiles in the range of destruction are not so important ". In this case, the use of AIM-7 may be preferable, “When it comes to destroying large targets, including hijacked airliners ", or, conversely, too small - "for example, UAV, which Hezbollah has.
used photos:Israeli Air Force