Isreal

For more detailed and concise information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Air_Force

The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the Israel Defense Forces. The current Commander in Chief is Major General Ido Nehoshtan. The Israeli Air Force has approximately 1000 aircraft and is regarded as one of the greatest air forces in the world due to their gaining air supremacy in the Middle-East.

The first aircraft to equip the air force of the Jewish state were the Czechoslovak Avia S-199 and British Spitfire Mk IXE.

Then came the 1950s and France was chosen as the primary aircraft supplier, the IAF being equipped with Dassault Ouragan (French = hurricane) and Mystere fighters but Charles de Gaulle's government prematurely strained that relationship by embargoing aircraft upon the Six Day War.

Israel had placed orders for 50 Dassault Mirage V delta-winged fighters but they were embargoed before any of them could be delivered. All of them were taken into Armee de l'Air service as the Mirage 5F and all the cash refunded.

The response came in the form of Israeli Mossad espionage, where Dassault Aviation's blueprints for the Mirage V's airframe and SNECMA Atar 9C turbojet were elaborately duplicated and sent to Israel. An Israeli-built unlicensed copy of the Mirage V, the IAI Nesher (Hebrew = eagle) was built. Note that the differences were the local avionics, Martin-Baker ejection seats and compatibility with Shafrir and AIM-9 Sidewinder heatseeker AAMs.

The last delta winged fighter flown by the IAF was the IAI Kfir (Hebrew = Lion Cub), a significant modification of the IAI Nesher. Telltale differences were a dorsal airscoop for the GE J79 turbojet and small canard winglets.

Moving on from the late '70s through to the '80s and the IAF was then flying U.S. built aircraft like the F-15 Baz (Hebrew = Falcon) and F-16 Netz / Barak (Hebrew = Hawk / Lightning).

Further on, as the Israeli Air Force entered the high tech age in the '90s, they were being equipped with the Boeing F-15I Ra'am (Hebrew = Thunder) and LM F-16I Sufa (Hebrew = Storm), two aircraft designed as medium-to-long range fighter bombers.

It is such a remarkable fact that the IAF pilots have given the Israeli Air Force a reputation that surpasses imagination, gaining air superiority over a continent containing several countries hostile to their homeland. What's more, it is this air force which has the most combat aces since World War II, including jet ace of aces Colonel Giora Epstein, with a score of 17 kills, all against Egyptian aircraft and scored in a Mirage III and Nesher.

Only 1 in 40 pilot trainees earn their wings through its tough pilot graduate training program. Think about it. That is how the Israeli Air Force is reserved for the elite-of-the-elite top guns.