The Unsung Heroes: How Israel's Air Force Maintained Zero Technical Losses

When the war broke out in October 2023, foreign intelligence researchers glued themselves to their screens, expecting to see the IDF operating at peak power and its famous air force leading the airstrikes delivered against terrorists in Gaza and Lebanon. Curiosity doubled when Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran—a war it had prepared for some thirty years—and managed to strike at the heart of the enemy. Foreign experts were astonished, not only by the power and precision, but because despite a crazy operational load, not a single aircraft was lost due to technical malfunction.

Aircraft are sensitive machines, and in wars, many aircraft fall due to technical failures and system disruptions rather than enemy fire. Yet, despite the heaviest sortie load in the air force's history, no aircraft was lost due to a technical malfunction during three years of war. This is unprecedented. The closest were the Australians, who ran a bombing campaign from 2014 to 2018 in Syria and Iraq against ISIS—an operation that does not approach the level of operational load the IDF has been swimming in since October 7, 2023.

The Anatomy of the Technical Array

The first echelon receiving aircraft after a sortie is akin to an intensive care unit—teams of mechanics and technicians inspecting every plane, immediately repairing what is possible, refueling, arming, and preparing it for the next sortie. Unlike most Western militaries, these are very young soldiers, with minimal seniority already hanging bombs on the wing of an F-15 and realizing the mission depends on how well they do their job.

The technical staff learns every aircraft in-depth at the level of its specific tail number, finding leaks and complications faster through personal familiarity. If there is a severe malfunction or heavy damage, the aircraft moves to a third echelon, the personnel of YA'A 22 and Unit 108 workshops. There, geniuses produce components and return to flight even an aircraft that in another army would straight away be thrown into an aluminum scrap heap.

Impact on the Battlefield

Without a technical array extracting 100% from every aircraft, the IDF would not have been able to generate critical firepower density on Hezbollah and destroy its rockets in time. Take the ability to evacuate wounded personnel in time; it depends on the availability of helicopters, which are assets that take heavy fire. If the technical array had not been able to field operational Black Hawks and Yasurs, injured troops might not have reached the medical care that saved their lives.

Moreover, only thanks to elite technicians could Israel even contemplate a bombing campaign in Iran, 1,500 kilometers away, running at the exact same pace as the strikes in neighboring Gaza. The mechanics are the muscles of the long arm, executing their work tirelessly even under fire, as air force bases were primary targets for ballistic missile salvos from Iran, Hezbollah rocket teams, and Hamas launchers.