After F-15 Kills Khamenei, Air Force Base Chief Says It’s Now Investigating Iran’s Ballistic Missiles

IDF Hatzerim Air Force Base Chief Brig. General “R” also tells the post about Iran’s pursuit of ballistic missile teams and air defense threats, along with general air supremacy.

Israel’s F-15s were the ones that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran’s top military leaders. They, along with F-16s and F-35s, were part of a key thrust on February 28 that broke the Islamic regime’s ability to launch large-scale ballistic missile salvos into Israel, and have continued to hunt missile teams ever since.

IDF Hatzerim Air Force Base Chief Brig. General ‘R’, who commands both F-15 and F-16 squadrons, recently spoke in his first interview with an English-language publication. The Jerusalem Post To tell the full story of the mission to stake the ballistic missile teams.

He declined to discuss the still highly sensitive war-opening assassination operations, but noted that the war’s “opening shots” were large and went far beyond those operations, saying, “The initial operational success was spectacular – it meant we could prevent a lot of potential harm to our civilians.”

The largest airstrike in Israel’s history

During the initial attack, which ‘R’ said was the largest airstrike in Israel’s history with around 250 aircraft (if support aircraft are included), its F-15s and F-16s attacked Iranian air defenses to gain air supremacy and fired ballistic missiles to defend the home front.

By the third day of the war, the number of ballistic missiles Iran was firing had already dropped to a militarily “manageable” number, and by the fourth day the number of missiles had dropped to about 20, often staying below that and often much lower.

At almost every moment or day of the war, Israeli aircraft have been hunting and striking ballistic missile crews and targets. “The Air Force is always hovering over Iran,” R told the Post.

He explained how this battle between the parties involved a mix of results.

Sometimes Iran manages to spread out enough to launch a small number of missiles, but other times either the air force destroys the missile team or prevents the team from exiting its missiles while the team is distracted trying to avoid being hit.

There is no goal to reach zero Iranian ballistic missiles, R said, but he also said, “When even one ballistic missile hits, we’ve seen what it does,” causing massive civilian casualties, as he committed to massively reducing fire with his F-15s and F-16s.

Despite the damage Iran has done to Israel, R said, “the damage on the home front needs to be kept in proportion. We also have an incredible air defense system,” which has saved countless lives.

This war was not the first time that Hatzerim’s squadrons played a leading role, they were also instrumental in the September 2024 assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and the June 2025 war against Iran.

A last-minute change in the division shot of war

One question about the war’s opening attack that ‘R’ was willing to discuss was the fact that Israel and the US made a last-minute decision to postpone the initial attack from the evening of February 27 to the morning of February 28.

“On the morning of the attack, it was a surprise [that the time of attack changed from Friday evening to Saturday morning]But we were so prepared and at such an advanced stage of operational readiness, with a penetrating base of attack plans that we were able to adapt to any changes easily and quickly,” R said.

He continued, “We were able to adapt to achieve the mission goals. There were many complex changes to the plan, but I am proud that we were able to do them in a very short period of time because of our top-level people.”

Another challenge for R was keeping some of his commanders in the dark to help convince the outside world and the Iranians to let their guard down, while also maintaining a high level of mission readiness.

“The hardest part was maintaining the advantage of surprise. You need to strike a balance between secrecy and readiness, so many Air Force commanders didn’t know about the operation,” until almost the last minute, he said.

But at the same time, “we trained for every situation, even the most difficult.”

On March 31, an IDF spokesman said that 100% of “critical” and “essential” targets in Iran on the air force’s inventory had been destroyed.

And in fact as early as mid-March, IDF sources said more than 75% of those targets had been destroyed.

If so, what have R and his F-15s and F-16s been bombing since then, and why have their attacks been necessary?

R responded by explaining the difference between his squadron’s strikes on Iran during the June 2025 war. “The difference between Rising Lion and now is huge. If you take dentistry for example. Rising Lion was an emergency dental filling aimed at removing an immediate threat,” he said.

“This is a complete root canal. There are no random or arbitrary attacks. There is always an order and priority. We also want to put more pressure on Iran, so their commanders fall into third- or fourth-rate replacements. Intelligence tells us that they feel victimized,” R stressed.

Next, he said, “We want to eliminate the entire military industry. We have achieved important and vital goals, but not all goals. We are ready for a long war if necessary and have been ready before. We have the spirit of fighters.”

Before the current war, R noted that, “Iran’s military industry was 50 times larger than Israel’s before the IDF dropped the bomb.”

He added, “Iran is a major power. The IRGC, Basij, and Ministry of Internal Security have 100 important headquarters, each of which is the size of Israel’s main military headquarters.”

Does Israel have air superiority over Iran?

‘R’ is very proud of the Air Force which achieved general air supremacy in the Islamic Republic in just 24 hours in this conflict.

This meant that drones and other aircraft could fly low at home and hover over certain targets, especially mobile and moving targets.

But he added that “even air supremacy is not 100%. The Iranians learn and get better.”

R doesn’t need the recent downing of two US aircraft by Iran, including its sibling the F-15, to understand the continuing threat to its squadrons.

“Almost every attack wave is shot down” by Iranian air defenses, he said, opening up a picture to the public that it doesn’t normally see or hear.

R himself had to avoid the anti-aircraft weapons fired at him by Iran.

Recounting his experience, he said, “You are 1,500 km away from home. It is after we hit our target. I felt the need to focus on my professional skills.”

“Some are temporarily nervous at times [when evading Iranian air defenses]. I am proud that our pilots have overcome their fears. They have deep character and courage. All the pilots are still fighting to be in the next attack wave,” when only so many pilots can fly in each wave and there is rotation.

He added, “Flying to Iran is very complicated. It is a long-distance flight and there are unusual dilemmas on the way. There are many other countries and regions that you have to fly to or even nearby enemy territory. Also, the aircraft has a kind of spirit and all kinds of physical requirements and refueling and other maintenance issues” The flight to Iran is very challenging for the Air Force for close flights.

Besides, he said, “We’ve trained for this for a long time, but seven hours in the cockpit is too much. It’s not business class and going to the bathroom is a challenge.”

Pressed on whether it was too risky for the commander of the entire Hazerim base to fly to Iran with his squadrons, R replied point-blank: “As a commander, you have to take your soldiers into the ‘field’. I got to feel the missiles, the enemies, the real-time challenges, all the atmospheres.

Working with the US Air Force

Asked to describe the relationship with the US Air Force, he replied, “It’s truly historic and unprecedented. Israel has never worked directly with any other country’s air force. The US has never worked with another country like this – the military relationship is really close.”

“I was personally on my way to attack Iran, and was refueling in Iraq with the US military and talking to them in English and telling them the whole story of my mission,” he said.

Furthermore, R said, “It’s not just me putting out some kind of approved official message. I’m really proud and honored to be fighting shoulder to shoulder with CENTCOM. Each Air Force has its own strengths, but we’re the two most powerful Air Forces in the world.”

“We will not stop. This is not over. We will achieve our military goals. Iran will not make any concessions.”

R said he is proud of the diverse group of Israelis who run Hatzerim, including men, women, religious, secular, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, groups of all ethnic backgrounds – even a 67-year-old reservist – this is how we win!”

In addition, he said he was honored by the service of all the logistics, maintenance and engineering soldiers who made it possible to operate Hazerim beyond the pilots in the cockpit.

This potentially involves hundreds of soldiers, especially since the Israeli Intelligence Command and Operations command soldiers who help find targets and plan to account.

“Maintenance and logistics staff work around the clock,” he said.

Are his pilots running low on energy after an unprecedented five-week long-range bombing mission?

R said his pilots would rise to the importance of the moment. Hatzerim will not stop. Even if we need to continue flying through Shavuot [on May 22] We are ready and have enough weapons.”

On the night of the Passover Seder, he said his pilots were in Iran on their freedom holiday to do what they could to reduce the regime’s threat to the nation.

He said that when he goes into the cockpit or sends pilots into battle, he always has in mind that they are fighting for their children and grandchildren, with special reference to his own child who has special needs and has a very difficult time with missile sirens.

Emphasizing the unique threat of the regime, he noted that many Israeli opponents say they want to eliminate Israel, but only Iran is working in a way that makes this possible (pursuing nuclear and large-scale ballistic missile weapons) and truly believes it can accomplish its goal.

He concluded, “We need to get rid of this regime. Not just for the survival of Israel, but for humanity. We saw what they did during the recent protests to kill their own people. This is for good, the ‘light’ side of humanity.”