A pivotal equipment advantage for the Israeli Air Force was the
F-4 Phantom II, a
third generation fighter/bomber. By the outbreak of the war in October 1973, the
IDF had 122
F-4E and 6 RF-4Es (
R denotes the reconnaissance variant) in service.
To compensate for the weaknesses of Egyptian air power,
the Egyptians developed their air defenses. They fielded immobile
SA-2 and
SA-3 SAMs, the backbone of the air defenses, as well as mobile
SA-6 SAMs and
ZSU-23-4 SPAAGs (Self Propelled Anti-Air Gun), portable infantry
SA-7s, in addition to thousands of conventional anti-air artillery.
These air defenses would provide a protective "umbrella" over Egyptian ground forces. However, the SA-2 and SA-3 systems, being immobile, could only be moved over a nine-hour period at best, exposing the air defenses to degradation in case of a redeployment to keep up with advancing forces.