The story of Israel’s female combat pilots involved in the joint Israel-United States war against Iran and in other battles of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF)
By Chika Abanobi
As female combat pilots of the Israeli Air Force (IAF), they also fly warplanes. And, they do acrobatic survival manoeuvres with their fighter jets. Especially, during dogfights. Like their male counterparts!
So? If the men are called “roaring lions” going by the Israeli military codename for the war between Iran and Israel, then the women deserve to be called the “roaring lionesses.”
They are modern-day Deborahs, Mothers of Israel, who would gladly lead Baraks the men, in a battle against Siseras (as described in Judges chapter 4). In fact, some lines from the “Song of Deborah” (Judges chapter 5) capture the essence of their fearless fighting spirit. It is a spirit you see in many of them not only in the Israeli Air Force but also in the Israeli Navy and Army.
Everlasting lines to women bravery
In one of the lines, the writer of the Book of Judges ruefully observed: “The Israelites were determined to fight; the people gladly volunteered” (Good News Bible). That’s the gospel truth when it comes to women serving in the Israeli Defence Forces: they are determined to fight. And, they do always gladly volunteer!
More of the thought-provoking lines from the song read: “Then there was war in the land…Of the forty thousand men in Israel, did anyone carry shield or spear? My heart is with the commanders of Israel, with the people who gladly volunteered.” If there is anything that female combatant in the Iranian air-war and other wars before it has proved, it is this: what a man can do, a woman can do equally well, if not better!
When on March 8, 2026, the United Nations celebrated the International Women’s Day (IWD) with the theme “Give to Gain” – a theme that emphasises the need to support, uplift, mentor, provide resources and invest in women in the bid to drive gender equality, it probably had in mind, women in Israel Defence Forces as a proof of the kind of thing creators of the theme were talking about.
The heroism of female pilots in the ‘Operation Roaring Lion’
The Igbo say that nature has ordained that while men fight the battle, it is women that share exciting, and sometimes exaggerated stories, of how the battle went, of how heroic the fighting men performed. Not so in Israel. Both genders fight the battles and share their stories where they were able to survive.
For instance, about 200 pilots took part in the bombing operations on the first day of ‘Operation Roaring Lion,’ reported to be the largest operation in the history of the Israeli Air Force. Out of that number, more than 30 were said to be female. Apart from assassinating Ayatollah Ali Khameini and about 40 of his senior government/military/security officers, they also attacked about 500 other targets. They included stationary and mobile missile launchers, missiles productions facilities and radar air defence systems in western and central Tehran.
In fact, reports say that, for the first time in the history of the Israeli Air Force, the flights included an all-female flight crew on a combat mission to Iran. They were later celebrated on social media. “Well done, ladies, we are all behind you,” an excited Netizen chipped in. “Good job, IDF. What men can do, women can do better,” another posted. “Well done, girls. May God bless and prosper the brave women,” still another wrote, adding an emoji.
You must have read how, on March 19, 2026, a Tehran’s air defence system shot and nearly brought down a United States F-35 stealth fighter. Built by Lockheed Martin, it is said to be the most advanced fighter jet in the world. A stealth aircraft is designed to avoid detection using an admixture of technologies in a way that reduces its emissions to the enemy’s radar infrared visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio. While no aircraft is completely invisible to radar, stealth aircraft makes it more difficult for conventional radar to detect or track effectively. Sometimes, it is complemented by reduced heat, sound, and other emissions.
But despite these technological fortifications, the US pilot of the F-35 fighter jet who was returning from a combat mission was engaged and hit by an Iranian ground fire, by a surface-to-air missile. Not only was his plane badly damaged, he was also said to have suffered severe shrapnel wounds. His life was saved only because he made an emergency landing at one of the American airbases in the Middle East. Tasnim news agency, Iran’s semiofficial news agency later released military footage, it claimed, showed Tehran’s air defence systems hitting the stealth fighter.
But 15 days earlier, precisely on March 4, 2026, when the same model of plane, F-35I, modified by the Israeli Air Force and dubbed “Adir” (“Mighty/Big One”) in Hebrew language, and, said to be flown by an Israeli female pilot, was engaged in air combat by an Iranian Russian-made Yak-130, over the Iranian airspace, she quickly outmaneuvered the attacking plane, shot it down before flying back home about 1,500 kilometres away to Israel.
Aircraft modifications by Israeli female aeronautic engineers
Sources say that the Israeli Air Force often modifies imported aircraft. They include American F-15s, F-16s, and F-35s, to meet specific regional threats. The word or name “F” stands for the models of warplanes called “Fighting Falcons” or simply “Falcons.” The Israeli modifications focus mainly on integrating the in-built or “follow-come” technology with indigenous electronic warfare (EW) systems and weaponry.
It is said that Israel’s installation of its own electronic warfare systems enables it to counter threats like Iranian air defences, bypassing standard U.S. electronic and weapons systems. For instance, Python-5, the air-to-air missile (AAM), the said Israeli female pilot used in shooting down the Iranian attacking warplane, was Israeli-made and not a ‘follow-come.’
The fifth-generation air-to-air missile, made by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, uses a dual-waveband which allows it to see a clear image of the target. And, it can engage targets in any direction, including rear-facing. It can also be used for very short-range dogfights or near-BVR (beyond-visual-range) engagements. Moreover, it is immune to all types of electronic countermeasures and has excellent capability against evasive target manoeuvres
Israeli aeronautic engineers, many of whom are women, also modify warplanes for increased capacity, namely to take in more fuel for a long-distance operations, create specialised interface that allows the main computer to accept local software and hardware upgrades without altering the core U.S, software. Local data links and sensors are also added to enhance real-time intelligence sharing with other fighters and ground forces.
Other American warplanes that the IAF has been able to modify over the years include: F-15 (known in Hebrew language as “Baz”, English: “Hawk/Falcon”, it is a twin-engine, all-weather aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing) and F-16 (known in Hebrew language as “Sufa”, English: “Storm”, it is a single-engine, two-seater, by Israeli variant, supersonic multirole fourth-generation fighter aircraft developed by General Dynamics). Supersonic jets travel faster than the speed of sound, creating a distinct “sonic boom” that travels with the aircraft and can break windows and disturb people.
Women engineers and technicians also help to prepare the fighter jets for consecutive strikes. Sometimes, this makes them work under intense pressures as much as male counterparts do. In short, women are said to constitute roughly half of combat soldiers in Israeli Air Force. They also work with the Air Defence Units to intercept incoming missiles and drones.
Women naval ratings in Israeli Navy go for military operations
Sometimes between June and August 2025, the Houthis of Yemen who are armed and funded by the Islamic Republican Guards Corps (IRGC) as part of its “Axis of Resistance” against Israel, (the other two being Hezbollah and Hamas), continued to lob missile after missile on the Israeli cities. It claimed it was doing so in sympathy with the Palestinians over the Gaza War and threatened to continue doing so for as long as the war lasted.
In warning them, about the consequences of their action, Israel Katz, the Israeli Defence Minister, vowed to bring on them the “10 Plagues of Egypt” if they did not stop. But when they persisted despite series of punishing air bombings by the Israeli Air Force, on one of the days, the Israeli Naval warships, sailing through the Mediterranean and Red Seas, from about 1,800 kilometres away and utilizing Saar-6 class missile warships bombed some infrastructures in the port city of Hodeidah and the Haziz Central Power Station in the Sanhan district, south of Sanaa. The entire city became plunged into darkness.
The Houthis were surprised to learn that many of the naval ratings who took part in the bombing of their ports and power stations were women. In February, 2026, one of them, a senior officer (name withheld for security reason), was promoted to the rank of a Navy Commodore and made a Commander of one of the warships.
Women of steel in Israeli Armoured Corps
The “Detroit Jewish News” writing on “The Growing Role of Women In the IDF” told the story of how, during the infamous Hamas terrorists attack on Israel, on October 7, 2023, a team of female tankers from the Gracal Armoured Battalion, on learning of the attack, bravely drove down to one of the Israeli settlements infiltrated by the attackers and engaged them in a fierce gun-battle, killed dozens, and forced them to retreat to the outskirts of the settlement.
Celebrating women bravado in the Israeli Defence Forces
Apart from the Air Force, Navy and Armoured Corps experiences, many Israeli women already serve alongside male counterparts in various security arms/units. They include Border Defense Corps, Artillery Corps, the Oketz canine unit and the Home Front Command’s Search and Rescue Brigade.
In the history of the Israeli Defence Forces, so far, they have had two female Major-Generals, six Brigadier-Generals, and hundreds of Colonels, Lt. Cols, Majors, Captains and other ranks. On March 8, 2026, the IDF marked the IWD by spotlighting women serving in “Operation Roaring Lion.” Official records show that women make up 21.2% of the IDF combat forces, up from 7.5% in 2015 while they make up 20% of reservists called up for current military campaign in Lebanon.
· Abanobi, winner, Governor Olusegun Mimiko Prize for Foreign News Reporter of the Year, 2018 Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA) and member, Journalists For Christ International Outreach is the author, “Offences and Forgiveness”, “How Youths Become Addicts To Porn” and other books.