7th Wing (Israel)

The formal establishment ceremony took place at Palmahim Air Base on July 12, 2020, attended by IAF commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin and the wing's first commander, a colonel identified only by the initial "Ayin."[3][4] The planned large ceremony was scaled back because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

The wing was designed to combine force development with operational command: following its formation, it was to oversee training and force-building for all subordinate units as well as their operations in both routine and wartime conditions, in coordination with Air Force headquarters.[2] Units retained their home bases in central Israel — principally Palmahim and Tel Nof — while falling under a single wing commander.[2] The commander was to hold the rank of colonel.[4] A Unit 5700 commander captured the organizational logic this way: "Wing 7 is proof that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."[5]

The 7th Wing's formation drew on a longer institutional history. After the Gulf War, the Israeli Air Force had established a special air forces headquarters to prepare for operations deep in enemy territory.[2] That earlier headquarters included Shaldag and held professional responsibility for Unit 669, whose operational command remained under Tel Nof Air Base; it later also assumed professional responsibility for the Frontal Landing Unit, then subordinate to Nevatim Air Base.[2]

By 2020, the strategic context had shifted significantly. The Air Force was contending with Iranian entrenchment across the region, the growth of Hezbollah's capabilities, the proliferation of advanced air-defense systems, and the threat posed by precision missiles.[3] Commanders concluded that diminishing freedom of action in the air was already affecting current operations and risked constraining wartime activity as well.[3] The reorganization that produced Wing 7 was carried out using existing resources and internal reallocations, without additional budget or personnel.[3]

Shaldag is the Air Force's special-operations commando unit and one of Wing 7's founding elements.[4] It was established after the 1973 Yom Kippur War to give the Air Force an independent ground capability for commando missions and deep intelligence collection behind enemy lines.[2] It specializes in covert operations and intelligence-gathering in support of Air Force strike missions.[6]

Unit 669 is an airborne combat search-and-rescue unit, founded in 1974 in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War and originally formed to specialize in rescuing aircrews who had abandoned their aircraft.[2] Its personnel train across a wide range of disciplines including combat medicine, parachuting, scuba diving, counterterrorism, rappelling, rescue in harsh conditions, and navigation.[7] By 2022, the unit was reported to have rescued more than 10,000 people in Israel and abroad.[7]

A dedicated intelligence unit was included in the wing to support its special forces. Its role was described as planning and managing collection, interpretation, and research relating to ground threats.[4][2]

The Frontal Landing Unit, known among its members as Unit 5700, was established in December 1973.[8] Its mission is to locate, assess, mark, and control landing strips and temporary airfields so that Air Force transport aircraft can operate wherever needed — including remote sites and locations within hostile territory.[5] The unit's commander described the ethos plainly: "Ultimately, our mission is not to tell the pilot why he cannot land — but to do everything necessary so that he can land safely."[6] One landing officer recounted a secret operation in which Wing 7 units prepared and marked a remote landing strip on desert terrain outside Israel, where he said no aircraft had previously landed. Preparation took approximately two weeks, after which several aircraft landed at night on his encrypted-radio clearance.[6]

Following October 7, 2023, the Frontal Landing Unit enabled Air Force transport aircraft to land reinforcement troops near communities on the Gaza border.[5][8]

Wing 7's Special Air Forces School began operating in 2022, marked by a ceremony at Tel Nof Air Base.[7] Its stated aims included improving training quality and operational focus, encouraging creative problem-solving, and preserving each unit's distinct character.[7] The wing commander said the school offered the opportunity to align the education of forces that had trained separately for decades; the school's commander described the new cycle as one in which experienced fighters and commanders would train the next generation.[7]

Wing 7's stated mission was to complement Air Force activity and expand the force's freedom of action through special operations deep in enemy territory, covering wartime, routine security periods, and the ongoing campaign between wars.[3] Air superiority was identified as the wing's central task, with special operations providing an independent ground capability in support of aerial objectives.[3][2]

The consolidation was intended not merely to rationalize administration but to improve cross-unit learning, develop commanders, adapt combat methods and equipment, and expand cooperation among units that had previously trained and operated separately for decades.[2][7]

The Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, led the Air Force to reassess base security and rapid-response capacity. Subsequent reports described plans to add a Wing 7 intervention capability for incidents at or around Air Force installations.[9][10]

In November 2025, the IDF announced it had begun establishing a new elite unit for securing Air Force installations, to operate under Wing 7 alongside Shaldag and Unit 669.[9] The planned unit was intended to intervene rapidly in a base-intrusion scenario. Recruitment was to begin in the next draft cycle, with training to cover weapons handling and defense-systems operation. Until the unit became fully operational, security battalions would provide the first line of response, with Wing 7 maintaining special forces on call for rapid helicopter deployment.[9]

Unit Arad, described in 2026 as a newly formed all-women Air Force combat unit, was established under Wing 7 as a direct lesson from investigations into October 7.[10][11] Its mission is to arrive first at incidents involving infiltration, raids, or terror threats at or near Air Force bases, isolate the scene, engage the threat, and stabilize it until additional forces arrive.[8] Its first commander was a lieutenant-colonel with operational experience in Shaldag.[8] Training was designed to cover urban combat, counterterrorism, air readiness, and operations alongside aircrews.[10]

By April 2026, the first cohort of female combat soldiers had joined Unit Arad, then in advanced stages of formation.[11] The recruits were organized into three operational teams and faced an initial training period of approximately eight months. The unit's scope was projected to expand beyond immediate base defense to include operations in improvised Air Force operating areas.[11]

Reports from November 2025 and 2026 describe a planned elite base-defense unit and the later-named Unit Arad, both under Wing 7, but do not explicitly clarify whether they refer to the same formation at different stages of development or to parallel initiatives. The available sources do not resolve the relationship.[9][8]