Deborah,
Might I suggest with all due respect that we not get too excited about this. It was not real! It was only a test in spite of what certain sources may say. Think about it for a second. It is public knowledge that there are more than 12 Iranian nuclear sites spread out around Iran. Do you really think that Israel would send a mere three F-16 fighters in unescorted to take all that out? This would have to be a much larger scale operation with back-up aircraft and contingency operations all working in tandem. There would even have to be rescue helicopters in the air, etc. Three aircraft could never do the job alone and Israel isn't about to do a partial operation.
Here is what was really happening. Israel was "testing the waters."
Israel is hoping that when and if they attack Iran's nuclear facilities, it will be a joint operation with the U.S. and other allies. But Israel can never be 100% sure of our support, so they make and test contingency plans. Israel knows that the U.S. owns and controls the sky over Iraq (the route to Iran) and it also knows that Iran has defenses and is watching the skies too. So Israel needs to know, if they were to launch an attack on Iran, how quickly they would be noticed and where? Where would they be intercepted and by what? When and how would the Iranians notice and respond? This was a test. They were testing the U.S.A.F. and it's intercept capabilities and they were testing Iran's early warning system. If this had been real, it would have been huge and they would not have turned back when a couple U.S. F-15 fighters pulled up along side and waved them off. One more thing. They weren't even trying to hide themselves. They were re-fueled by a U.S. KC-135 tanker and were at high altitude in sight of ground radar. The Israelis were just practicing some "what-ifs."
Dan Cooney