Israeli Air Force Reports Unprecedented Aerial Campaign Against Iran with 12,000 Munitions Dropped in 18 Days

Israeli Air Force destroys 85% of Iranian air defenses in massive aerial campaign. 12,000 munitions dropped as IAF target missile launchers and leadership.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 19, 2026, 12:22 PM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from Times of Israel

A Year’s Worth of Aerial Operations Compressed into Three Weeks

The scale of the current air campaign against the Iranian regime has reached a level of intensity previously unseen in regional warfare. According to senior military officials, the Israeli Air Force has flown a volume of sorties in just 18 days that would typically span an entire operational year. This surge has resulted in the deployment of over 12,000 munitions across 8,500 separate strikes, with nearly a third of those strikes concentrated specifically on high-value targets within the capital city of Tehran. This sustained pressure is designed to overwhelm Iranian command structures and neutralize threats before they can be mobilized.

The Strategic Implementation of "Metro Sorties"

To maintain a constant presence over Iranian airspace without the traditional limitations of refueling, the IAF has pioneered a technique dubbed "metro sorties." This formation involves a mixture of drones and fighter jets that loiter in key sectors, ready to strike based on real-time intelligence. This high-readiness posture allows the military to hit "fleeting targets," such as mobile ballistic missile launchers or high-ranking officials. The IDF confirmed that this specific operational method was instrumental in the recent successful targeting of Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmaeil Khatib, in Tehran.

Systematic Degradation of Iranian Air Defenses

The primary objective of the initial phases of this campaign has been the total erosion of Iran's ability to detect and intercept Israeli aircraft. Military assessments suggest that 92% of Iran's most advanced air defense systems have been destroyed, leaving only a small number of hidden or inactive units remaining. Furthermore, 80% of older radar and missile systems have been neutralized. While the IAF acknowledges that "decentralized" systems—using simple cameras and AI tracking—are more difficult to locate, they estimate that 75% of these rudimentary defenses have also been eliminated, granting Israel significant air superiority.