The F-35’s vaunted stealth capabilities, achieved through painstaking reductions in radar cross-section, have always been compromised by a persistent vulnerability: its heat signature.
The Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, while powerful, generates immense thermal emissions that no amount of engineering can fully mask.
The Majid system, produced by the Iranian Armed Forces Logistics Department’s Defence Industry Organization and first unveiled in April 2021, exploits precisely this weakness.
With an engagement range of at least 700 meters and a ceiling of around 6 kilometers, it was designed for point defense rather than area coverage. Its infrared seeker operates without emitting any radar signature, meaning the F-35’s radar warning receivers remained silent.
The aircraft’s electronic countermeasures, designed to jam radar frequencies, were rendered useless against a passive optical system.
Iranian footage of the engagement reportedly shows that a single missile was sufficient—a testament to both the system’s precision and the F-35’s thermal vulnerability.
The astounding success of the Majid system underscores a broader trend in Iranian military development: the achievement of genuine technological sovereignty in the face of decades of sanctions and military pressure.
The system’s infrared guidance represents a deliberate doctrinal choice that circumvents the electronic warfare supremacy that US and Israeli forces have long enjoyed.
By operating outside the radar spectrum, Iranian air defenses deny adversaries the ability to detect, track, or jam incoming threats using standard electronic warfare platforms.
This approach has been further reinforced by strategic acquisitions. Leaked documentation indicated that Iran had finalized a $580 million agreement to procure 500 9K333 Verba man-portable surface-to-air missile launchers and 2,500 9M336 missiles from Russia.
The Verba system, widely considered the most capable man-portable air defense system in existence, features a three-spectral seeker—ultraviolet, near-infrared, and mid-infrared—that provides unparalleled discrimination between actual targets and countermeasures such as flares or directional infrared countermeasures. @kimbatch
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/03/21/765634/silence-of-stealth-how-iran-shatteredinvincibility-us-f35-fighter-jet
