IDF gears up for a new era

The changes revealed Tuesday to the Israel Air Force's operational platform were just the tip if the iceberg when it comes to the extensive changes the Israel Defense Forces plans to make over the next few years. Once complete, the IDF will be leaner but stronger and better suited to meet the challenges of the modern battlefield.

Contrary to popular opinion, the catalyst for this change was not the cuts to the defense budget, but the realization that the IDF is a cumbersome, outdated military, best suited for battle dogmas that have become a thing of the past. The state deficit and the subsequent significant cut to defense spending might have forced the IDF into this move, but IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz had already begun formulating a plan to that effect.

The planned changes spell fewer tanks and fighter jets and more technological capabilities. Some units will receive more resources and intelligence capabilities, with the aim of making up for reducing their personnel status; while deploying technological measures is meant to allow the military to reduce deploying actual forces on the ground.

The military will also become more dependent on its regular army forces and plans to significantly increase its investments in the cybersphere. Some of the changes are still being debated, but one thing is already clear -- outdated tanks will be retired from service.

IDF officials who briefed the political echelon on the planned changes said that they constitute a calculated, manageable risk. The number of IAF squadrons might have been reduced immediately, as part of the need to show an instant cut in defense spending, but this move was already in the making, as the IAF was planning to retire outdated jets whose operational contribution fell vastly short of their high maintenance costs.

Should the IDF see these changes through, they will shape a new military that will be much better suited to meet the current era, in which the threat of conventional warfare has become nearly void while the need to maximize intelligence, maneuverability and surgical strike capabilities has significantly grown. The military must be able to be operationally and conceptually agile -- in favor of swift and decisive results in operations in the Gaza Strip or Lebanon -- and it must be able to adapt operationally to the frequent changes in the region.

If all this eventually comes to fruition, Gantz will be able to note, with considerable satisfaction, that his Egyptian counterpart was not the only one to lead a revolution.

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