In 1982, during the Lebanon War, Israel conducted a mission to destroy 30 Syrian SAM batteries. The Syrian air force put up a fight, but it was not very successful. Israel destroyed 29 of the 30 batteries, and shot down about 100 Syrian aircraft without losing any of its own. Other than the Iran-Iraq War and Desert Storm, Operation Mole Cricket is probably the largest instance of air combat that has taken place since the Korean War. Of course, it was quite a long time ago, but did it have an impact on Western air combat doctrine, strategy and philosophy? Neither Iran nor Iraq would have fully disclosed what they learned to NATO members, and although the US learned a lot in Desert Storm, the coalition completely overwhelmed Iraqi forces. However, in Operation Mole Cricket, the forces were evenly matched, but the results could not have been more decisive, so I suspect it was a great learning experience. The operation was viewed as a vindication of American fighters (the Israelis used relatively new F-15s and F-16s) over their Soviet counterparts. Do we know if Israel conveyed all of the details to its Western allies? Did the results inform what was desired for 5th generation fighters? How impactful was Operation Mole Cricket on Western air combat?
