Propaganda Fabrications vs. Operational Reality
On the evening of October 1, 2024, the Islamic Republic of Iran launched an estimated 180 to 200 ballistic missiles toward military installations in Israel during what Tehran dubbed "Operation True Promise II." Within minutes of the barrage, Iranian state-controlled media apparatuses—including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Fars News Agency and Tasnim News Agency—disseminated sensational claims asserting that Tehran’s forces had deployed "hypersonic" Fattah missiles to annihilate Nevatim Airbase in the Negev desert. Disinformation networks quickly amplified these claims across social media, circulating dramatic video clips that purported to show secondary explosions completely obliterating hangars housing Israel's premier F-35I Adir stealth fighter fleet, alleging the destruction of 20 to 40 advanced aircraft.
As documented by independent defense reporting in Forbes, these triumphant declarations represented an orchestrated psychological warfare campaign rather than factual military outcomes. An examination of the viral video clips revealed that they relied heavily on miscaptioned footage from previous foreign conflicts, industrial gas explosions, and digital military simulator software such as Arma 3. The Iranian regime routinely deploys computer-generated imagery and recycled archival combat footage to exaggerate the technical capabilities of its missile arsenal and manufacture phantom battlefield victories for domestic and regional consumption.
Commercial Satellite Imagery Debunks the Claims
Verifiable physical evidence directly contradicted Tehran’s narrative of base-wide destruction. High-resolution commercial satellite imagery captured on October 2, 2024, by Planet Labs PBC and reported by The Times of Israel, showed the true extent of the missile impacts across Nevatim. Rather than an obliterated base, the imagery revealed that Nevatim's runways, major taxiways, and hardened command centers remained structurally sound and fully operational.
A comprehensive open-source intelligence analysis published by The War Zone documented that while dozens of missiles landed in and around the sprawling perimeter of the facility, the vast majority impacted harmlessly in open sand or secondary terrain. Only a single impact directly breached the roof of an aircraft maintenance hangar near the southern flight line, puncturing an entry hole and dispersing debris across the tarmac. Crucially, the hangar was unoccupied by aircraft at the time of the strike, and adjacent fortified structures remained entirely intact.
Force Protection and Continued Air Operations
The operational resilience of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) relies on rigorous defensive doctrines and hardened infrastructure. Prior to the arrival of the missile salvo, Israeli early-warning systems, supported by United States and regional radar tracking, detected launches from Iranian territory. This detection gave base personnel sufficient time to shelter and implement protective dispersal protocols.
As detailed in reporting by NPR, independent nonproliferation researchers analyzing satellite data confirmed that zero Israeli aircraft were lost or incapacitated. The IAF’s F-35I fighters are maintained within reinforced, subterranean Hardened Aircraft Shelters (HAS) designed specifically to withstand direct ballistic warhead strikes, while numerous operational squadrons were actively airborne executing interception missions and defensive patrols during the bombardment.
Far from crippling Israel’s aerial fleet, Nevatim remained functioning without pause. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that flight operations continued on regular combat rotations immediately throughout and after the strike, enabling the IAF to execute extensive operational sorties across the Middle East within hours of Tehran's attack.