The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on Thursday shared the first footage of the country’s Air Force shooting down an Iranian YAK-130 fighter over Tehran’s skies.
The IDF confirmed that the YAK-130 was shot down by an Israeli ‘Adir’ (F-35I) fighter jet, while also indicating that the strikes “continue”.
“Completed, the target is down, continuing to strike”: First footage from the ‘Adir’ (F-35I) fighter jet shooting down an Iranian fighter jet (YAK-130) over the skies of Tehran. Yesterday (Wednesday), an ‘Adir’ (F-35I) Israeli Air Force fighter jet shot down an Iranian fighter jet (YAK-130) over the skies of Tehran,” the IDF said in a statement.
Watch the video here:
The statement further said that the Israeli Air Force is continuing to strike dozens of infrastructure sites of Iran and “is operating to obtain aerial superiority over the skies of Tehran.”
The ‘Adir’- Yak-130 dogfight in Tehran’s skies
The IDF had said on Wednesday its F-35I fighter jet – “Adir” – shot down an Iranian Air Force YAK-130 fighter aircraft over the skies of Tehran on the fifth day of the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which has plunged the West Asian region into a war.
According to the IDF post on social media platform X, Wednesday’s dogfight was the first shootdown in history of a manned fighter aircraft by an F-35 fighter jet.
The F-35, developed by American defence and aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin, is considered one of the most advanced fighter jets in the world, with its shape, internal sensors, weapons, and fuel contributing to the aircraft’s stealth, or “low observability.”
Iran’s YAK-130 is a subsonic two-seat advanced jet trainer and light combat aircraft originally developed by Yakovlev and Aermacchi.
Six days into the war that US President Donald Trump suggested could last a month or longer, hundreds of people have been killed in Iran, including some Trump said he had considered as possible future leaders of the country.