Here's a detailed description of the armament of both Israel and her opponents during the six-day war:
Summary:
Israel: 275,000 troops (of which about 200,000 were reserves) 200 aircraft, 1,100 tanks, (According to Oren, 2002, page 168, but on page 171 he states that there were 250 aircraft). or 250,000 troops, 192 combat aircraft, 40 trainers, 1100 tanks, 400 guns and heavy mortars (Morris, Righteous Victims, 1999 page 311).
Total Arab forces: About 250,000 troops (not counting 50,000 in Yemen) 530 aircraft, 1,500 tanks (some sources claim 2,800 tanks), broken down as follows:
Egypt: 180,000 troops (of which 50,000 were deployed in Yemen - some of these were returned to Sinai), About 420 aircraft, of which 242 were MiG fighters, and the rest were apparently Ilyushin and Topolev bombers and Sukhoi fighter-bombers, 900 tanks, 800 artillery pieces (Morris, page 312,318);
Jordan: 56,000 troops, 24 Hawker-Hunter jet fighters, 294 tanks (including 30 Iraqi), 194 artillery pieces (including 34 Iraqi) (Morris, 1999, page 312). Jordanian troops were reinforced with several Iraqi brigades.
Syria: 70,000 troops, 92 fighter aircraft and two bombers, 300 tanks, 265 artillery pieces and heavy mortars (Morris, 1999, page 313).
The table shows all combat aircraft types of each country. Syria and Egypt alone had over 500 aircraft vs 343 for Israel, and they outclassed Israeli aircraft. The Iraqi air force did not not commit most of its air craft to the battle.
At the time, it was believed that the Arab states had a decisive superiority in the number and quality of weapons, and a potential superiority in manpower, if all reserves were fielded. Prior to 1967, Israel had gotten almost no military aid from the United States. Egypt and Syria were equipped with large quantities of the latest Soviet military equipment. Israel's main arms supplier was France. Israel had about half as many aircraft as the Egyptians, and the Israeli aircraft were mostly old or of limited capacity. They included 45 Fouga Magister trainer jets that were used as decoys according to most accounts, 50 Ouragan bombers, 20 Vautour light bombers, and 35 Mystere Mark IV fighters, 35 Super Mystere and 65 Mirage IIIc fighters: 250 aircraft in all according to the estimate of Michael Oren (Six Days of War, page 171). A more detailed listing of the capabilities of these aircraft is given here: Operation Focus. Even the Mirages were no match in a dog fight for the Mig-21 fighters acquired by Egypt from the USSR, which had a rate of climb of about 120 m/s, versus 83 m/s for for the Mirage, of which Israel had 65. The Arab states had over 300 MiG aircraft, of which about half were MiG-21. The Mysteres in Israel's possession had a top speed of Mach 1.1, about half that of the MiG-21 or Mirage IIIc.
Egypt alone had around 242 Mig fighers at the time of engagement.
And on tanks:
On paper, the IDF had a large number of "tanks" matching or almost matching the arms of the Arab countries. However, while Syrians and Egyptians were equipped with late model Soviet heavy tanks, many of the Israeli "tanks" were in fact tiny French AMX anti-tank vehicles, and most of the heavy tanks were either British Centurions or refurbished WWII Sherman tanks fitted with diesel engines and with 105 mm guns. Israel had also been allowed to purchase an unknown number of M-48 Patton tanks from Germany or the US in 1965. It is known that the Germans had sold Israel at least 60 such tanks. In 1967 however, many of these tanks were being converted from gasoline to diesel engines. The Israeli government asked for 100 replacement tanks in May of 1967. However, these and all other arms requests were refused.
Sherman tanks. LoL.
Good to see, however, the bias that shafique pointed out in many BBC 'documentaries'.
http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/6daywar.htm
