WATCH: IDF airs video showing world-first F-35 downing of manned plane in Iran
‘Completed, the target is down, continuing to strike,’ pilot heard saying after shooting down Russian-made Yak-130 over Tehran, in IAF’s first air-to-air combat in 40 years
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleEmanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday released footage showing the downing of an Iranian Yak-130 jet over Tehran a day prior by an Israeli Air Force F-35I fighter.
The incident on Wednesday marked the first-ever downing of a manned aircraft by an F-35, and the first time in some 40 years that the Israeli Air Force has engaged in air-to-air combat with manned aircraft.
IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said in a Thursday press conference that the Iranian aircraft had taken off from Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport “and posed a threat to our aircraft.”
“Completed, the target is down, the target is down, continuing to strike,” the F-35I pilot can be heard saying over radio communications in the video, which shows the target erupting in flames.
The last time IAF jets shot down a manned enemy aircraft was on November 24, 1985, over Lebanon. In that incident, an IAF F-15 downed two Syrian MiG-23 fighters.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the commander of the Nevatim Airbase, where the IAF’s F-35 jets are housed, said, “We identified the plane, locked on it and launched [a missile].”
"ביצעתי, המטרה נפלה, נמשיך לתקיפה": תיעוד ראשון ממטוס ה״אדיר״ (F-35I) מפיל מטוס קרב איראני (YAK-130) מעל שמי טהרן.
חיל-האוויר ממשיך לתקוף עשרות תשתיות של משטר הטרור האיראני וסולל את הדרך ליצירת עליונות אווירית בשמי טהרן. pic.twitter.com/RGUX4x1bFK
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) March 5, 2026
“The Iranian plane endangered [our] aircraft. It could have hit our plane, so we shot it down,” Brig. Gen. “Daled,” identified only by his rank and first initial in Hebrew, said.
The airbase commander said that F-35 that fired the missile was in the midst of targeting Iranian regime sites in Tehran. He said the F-35 “knows how to do this very quickly and accurately.”
The pilot who shot down the Iranian aircraft was relatively junior in the force but this was not his first flight in Iran, according to the airbase commander.
“The Iranian Air Force understands that it is inferior and under significant threat. Despite this, it is trying with its remaining capabilities to carry out missions that will disrupt us. That was the situation that led to the shootdown,” the airbase commander said.
“We encounter the enemy during our sorties in Iran, but it is a weak enemy,” he added.
Footage posted to social media on Wednesday showed the jet crashing over the Lavasan Mountains, just north of Tehran.
NOW: Video shows an aircraft crashing over Tehran, north of the Lavasan Mountains. pic.twitter.com/ahX9ylfs6W
— Defence Index (@Defence_Index) March 4, 2026
The IAF was expected to mark the F-35I with a “victory mark,” a small decal on the side of the plane to denote the achievement of the pilot and plane.
It would potentially be the first time in nearly two decades that the IAF has added a victory mark to a plane.
In 2007, the military marked fighter jets that participated in strikes on Syria’s nuclear reactor, in a mission known to much of the world as Operation Orchard, and in the IDF as Outside the Box.
The Yak-130, initially developed jointly by Russian aircraft manufacturer Yakovlev and Italian firm Aermacchi, is a jet trainer and light combat aircraft.
Development on the plane began in the 1990s.
In 2000, the Russian and Italian aircraft manufacturers ended their partnership, with each going on to develop their own version of the plane.
The Russian Yak-130 was first introduced into service by the Russian Air Force in 2010, and the Italian version of the plane, the M-346 Master, entered service in the Italian Air Force in 2015.
The M-346 Master is also in use by the Israeli Air Force as a jet trainer, and it is known in Hebrew as the Lavi.
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