119 Squadron (Israel Air Force)

119 Squadron is an IAF fighter squadron known as the Bat Squadron. Recent reporting identifies the unit with F-16I Sufa aircraft at Ramon Air Base.[2][3] A 2008-era order-of-battle table listed it under Wing 25 alongside the 107 and 253 Squadrons, the two other F-16I units then based at Ramon.[7] Its motto preserves the emphasis on day, night, and poor-visibility operations that dates to its original night-interception role.[4][1]

119 Squadron was established in August 1956, roughly one month before Operation Rooster in October of that year.[8] Israel had procured six Gloster Meteor NF.13 night fighters from Britain; the first three arrived on September 5, 1956, and the remaining three followed in March 1958.[4] At the time of Operation Rooster, only a single aircraft was serviceable and only one crew was qualified to fly it.[8]

The squadron was based at Tel-Nof and tasked with night interception and training pilots in night flying.[4] During Operation Kadesh in late 1956, the unit was placed on alert against Egyptian Ilyushin Il-28 bombers and scrambled four times, though it did not engage them.[4] Yoash Tsidon, the intended commander of the squadron, resisted orders to convert the NF.13s from their night-fighter role to day fighters for Kadesh, preserving the aircraft's specialized night capabilities.[4]

On the night of October 28, 1956, Tsidon and radar operator Elyashiv Brosh took off in Meteor NF.13 No. 52 and intercepted an Egyptian Ilyushin Il-14 over the Mediterranean at 10,000 feet, off Ashdod, and shot it down.[4][8] The aircraft was carrying a high-ranking Egyptian military delegation; Calcalist reports that sixteen senior Egyptian officers were killed.[8] The senior Egyptian official expected aboard had extended his stay in Damascus and was absent.[4][8] The mission, codenamed Operation "Tarnegol" ("Rooster"), remained secret for more than three decades and was publicly disclosed in 1989.[4][8]

119 Squadron later transitioned to the F-16I Sufa ("Storm"), a two-seat multirole strike fighter developed to IAF specifications. Deliveries of the aircraft began in 2004.[7] Its conformal fuel tanks provide an unrefueled combat radius of more than 500 miles, and the aircraft carries an integrated Litening II targeting pod and SPICE 2000 precision munitions.[7]

The squadron's contemporary training reflects this multirole mission. In January 2022, it participated in the Desert Falcon exercise at Uvda Air Force Base alongside US Air Force F-16s and an IAF 122nd Squadron Gulfstream G550. The exercise practiced joint responses to aerial threats and strikes on targets, while the IAF's 115th Squadron simulated opposing aircraft and helicopters.[9]

The squadron's documented history illustrates the IAF's progression from radar-equipped night interception to supersonic air combat, long-range strike, reconnaissance, and precision multirole operations.[4][7] Its record includes Operation Rooster, Mirage combat in the 1960s, and the 1973 strike on the Syrian General Staff headquarters.[8][10] Its Phantom crews also conducted strategic reconnaissance connected to efforts to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel, while later F-16I crews operated on multiple combat fronts.[6][11]

Several claims in the squadron's public record require qualification. Reported civilian casualty figures for the 1973 Damascus strike differ: one account cites 30 Soviet civilians killed, while Syrian media reported 26 civilians killed and 117 wounded.[10] For the Second Lebanon War, a squadron-specific source reports more than 1,000 sorties, but broader statistics for the opening attack do not identify 119 Squadron's precise contribution.[12][7] Accounts of the squadron's October 7 response and the 2024 Iran strike rely heavily on participant interviews and military reporting.[13][11]

The Bat Squadron began receiving Dassault Mirage IIICJ Shahak fighters in March 1964, although a Jerusalem Post account dates the upgrade to 1963.[5][14] In addition to standard Mirages, the squadron operated the two-seat Mirage IIIB and two dedicated photo-reconnaissance Mirage IIICJ(R) aircraft, with four or more additional airframes modified with interchangeable camera noses to supplement dedicated reconnaissance missions.[5]

Ran Pekker took command of the squadron in 1965 and imposed an exacting aerial-gunnery standard: pilots had to hold their gunsight on an opponent's aircraft for sixteen consecutive frames to be credited with a victory.[14] Following the deaths of three Israeli soldiers in a land-mine explosion near the Jordanian border on November 11, 1966, Israeli retaliatory strikes followed. Pekker, the squadron commander, fought a Jordanian Hawker Hunter pilot for nearly eight minutes and shot the aircraft down at low altitude.[5][14]

On April 7, 1967, amid Syrian shelling and MiG intervention over the Golan Heights, a 119 Squadron Mirage downed a Syrian MiG-21.[5] During the June 1967 Six-Day War, 119 Squadron served as a leading Mirage unit and, according to a Calcalist account, accumulated the highest number of confirmed enemy-aircraft shootdowns of any IAF squadron during the conflict, although the account does not provide a total.[10]

By the early 1970s, 119 Squadron had transitioned to the F-4E Phantom and was being assigned major deep-strike missions. Its personnel also shot down MiG-21s flown by Soviet crews in 1970, a notable episode in the War of Attrition.[10]

During the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, the squadron was assigned to strike the Syrian General Staff headquarters in Damascus. Eight F-4E Phantoms departed Tel-Nof, each carrying approximately five tons of bombs; one aircraft returned early with a serious technical problem, but the remaining seven pressed on.[10] To evade Syrian radar, the formation flew low over the sea and Lebanon before climbing to attack.[10]

The seven Phantoms climbed to approximately 6,000 feet over the target and released a reported 35 tons of bombs on the headquarters complex, also striking the Syrian Air Force headquarters.[10] Syrian air defenses responded with SA-3 and SA-6 missiles and intense 23 mm and 57 mm anti-aircraft fire.[10] Aircraft No. 3 was hit and its crew ejected over Syria. Pilot Dov Shafir was killed, and navigator Yaakov Yaakobi was captured after being wounded.[10] Aircraft No. 6 was badly damaged but reached Israeli territory and made a difficult emergency landing without brakes.[10] Formation leader Arnon Lapidot received the Medal of Distinguished Service for his decision to continue the mission, while his navigator, Lior Elazar, received the Chief of Staff's Commendation.[10]

The strike destroyed the upper floors of the Syrian General Staff headquarters, according to the cited account. Reported civilian casualties differed: one figure cited 30 Soviet civilians killed at a nearby Soviet arts center, while Syrian media reported 26 civilians killed and 117 wounded.[10] Five Israeli airmen held in the lower floors of the headquarters survived the bombing and later described collapsing walls, shattered windows, and doors blown from their frames.[10]

During its Phantom years, 119 Squadron specialized in aerial photography and strategic reconnaissance alongside its strike role.[6] Pilot Ram Shmueli flew photographic missions over Lebanon and Syria at least two or three times a week during his service with the unit.[6] In 1983, the squadron's Phantom crews photographed Sudan in preparation for operations to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Shmueli later recalled that he did not understand the mission's purpose at the time.[6]

During the 2006 Second Lebanon War, 119 Squadron flew more than 1,000 operational sorties using its F-16I Sufa aircraft, according to a Mako account that attributes the total to the squadron alone.[12] At the broader campaign level, IAF F-16I aircraft operating alongside F-15Is participated in the opening attack on Hezbollah's medium-range rocket sites, in which 40 fighters struck 93 assigned targets in 34 minutes.[7] The campaign-level source does not specify 119 Squadron's contribution to that strike.

In September 2007, 119 Squadron was one of three IAF squadrons that participated in the strike on the Syrian nuclear facility at Deir ez-Zor, an operation later known as Operation Outside the Box.[15] Four F-15s and four F-16s took off from Hatzerim and Ramon and dropped approximately 24 tons of ordnance on the facility.[15] The reporting does not specify which aircraft type or mission task was assigned to 119 Squadron within the strike package. Israel did not formally acknowledge responsibility for the operation until publication was permitted in 2018.[15]

In October 2016, Ohad Cohen Nov, then the deputy commander of 119 Squadron, was killed when his F-16I caught fire as he prepared to land after returning from airstrikes in Gaza.[16] His navigator ejected, but Cohen Nov was killed. He had assumed the deputy-command position approximately one week before the incident and had lived at Ramon Air Base.[16]

In August 2021, a female officer identified only as Maj. N. was appointed deputy commander of the Bat Squadron.[17] A 2024 Jerusalem Post report on the squadron's participation in the strike on Iran identified Maj. N. as having co-led the mission alongside the squadron commander, Lt. Col. "Y," and Maj. "S."; Maj. N. served as navigator during the operation.[11]

Participant accounts describe 119 Squadron responding to the Hamas terrorist attack during the first hours of October 7, 2023. The squadron commander said its readiness force was airborne by approximately 07:15 and that he took off around 09:00.[13] A fighter navigator recalled that his crew took off at 6:45 a.m., was ordered toward Gaza by 7:00 a.m., and joined a four-jet patrol off the Gaza coast at 7:20 a.m., with two aircraft from Ramon and two from Hatzor.[18] According to his account, the first targets — border-adjacent tunnels opposite Netiv HaAsara in northern Gaza — were received at 7:50 a.m. After landing to rearm around 8:00 a.m., the squadron was airborne again by 9:00 a.m. with orders to help seal the breached border; the entire squadron was in the air by 11:30 a.m.[18]

The navigator described severe early limitations in situational awareness. At altitude there was no cellphone reception, communications were limited to radio exchanges with controllers, and fighter aircraft lacked the real-time ground-force tracking available to helicopters or drones.[18] He recalled that only after landing did crews begin to understand the scale of events on the ground, including images of a Hamas vehicle in Sderot and messages from family members sheltering under fire. On a later sortie, he saw homes burning in kibbutzim, including the kibbutz where his parents lived.[18]

A November 2023 Mako report described the squadron conducting strikes and support operations in Gaza by day and night while coordinating with ground-force commanders ahead of the ground maneuver.[13] The squadron commander described readiness to strike when targets or intelligence were received and support for ground units through command-and-control cells capable of both preparatory strikes and real-time assistance. The same report said ground crews worked around the clock to maintain the F-16I aircraft and their weapons systems.[13]

On October 26, 2024, the Bat Squadron participated in Israel's strike on Iran. Lt. Col. "Y," the squadron commander, described the mission as an honor and said the unit had operated across multiple combat fronts throughout the preceding year, day and night.[11] Preparations at Ramon Air Base included checking aircraft and munitions and selecting ammunition sequences by category. A squadron technical officer and a fighter pilot also described extensive prior training for this type of mission.[3]

In April 2024, following Iran's direct missile and drone attack on Israel, a 119 Squadron fighter navigator identified as Maj. (res.) R. served aboard an F-16I that took off shortly after midnight toward eastern Israel to intercept aerial vehicles.[2] He personally intercepted one cruise missile launched from Iran and participated in bringing down additional aerial vehicles. R. said he had been mobilized since October 7 and that the squadron had been responding across multiple fronts.[2]