In 1973 the armies of Egypt and Syria surprised Israel. Israel had expected to be able to use its airforce to hold back the arab armies until its reserves could be mobilized, but the widespread use of Sam missiles took a heavy toll on Israelis aircraft. During the first day of the war Israel lost 30 aircraft. Improved tactics soon let the Israeli airforce gain the upper hand and by the end of the war it had destroyed 460 Arab aircraft
