Israel has survived militarily because of its ability to innovate in modern weaponry. This innovation is the subject of The Art of Military Innovation: Lessons from the IDF by Edward Luttwak and Eitan Shamir, a book that is extraordinarily relevant to our current situation.
Many of the problems facing us today resemble those of the past. For example, it is now clear that local military R&D and production will be a critical hedge against potential withholdings or boycotts of arms by foreign suppliers. In the mid-1960s, a similar issue faced the Jewish state when the Air Force was based on Mirage fighter planes. Fearing a French arms boycott, which was to become a reality in 1969, Israel created an entire industry for the production of spare parts to keep the Mirages flying.
Perhaps a better-known example, and one of particular relevance today, is the Israeli Lavi jet fighter. Pioneered by Moshe Arens in 1980, the program advanced as far as the test flights of two prototypes, but it was canceled by the Israeli government in August 1987, due to intense pressure from the United States. As a result of the current Hamas war, Israel may very soon need to address its reliance on foreign supply of major weapons systems.
Another theme of this book, and one that was quite surprising to me, is the extreme breadth of Israel’s military innovations. IDF innovation is not merely hardware, nor solely a combination of hardware and software, but also encompasses procedure and organization.
The Art of Military Innovation begins with a discussion of the IDF’s unique organization as a “single service,” with all branches of the military – army, naval, and air force – under a single command.
This organization, which has continued from 1948 until today, and is very atypical of modern militaries, has had a huge and positive impact on military R&D in Israel. The authors claim that “Of all IDF innovations, the single-service structure is perhaps the most important.” Luttwak and Shamir attribute dozens of innovations, both physical and cyber, to the fact that there is only one command structure in the IDF.
By contrast, in traditional militaries, each branch is wholly autonomous, and the result is almost too predictable. The authors cite the refusal of the British army to develop a tank in World War I, for fear that the calvary would be displaced, and indeed, the first tank was developed by the Royal Navy under Churchill, who would not accept the army position. That kind of thing would not happen in the IDF.
The book discusses over 100 examples of global innovation in all branches of the military.
The Merkava tank justifiably merits an entire chapter in the book. The Merkava is not an improved version of an earlier American, British, or French tank; it is an entirely new product, designed and manufactured in Israel. Unlike other tanks, the chief criterion for the Merkava design is crew protection. The engine is mounted in the front because of the added protection that such placement affords. In the Merkava, 75% of the armor is designed to protect the crew, whereas other tanks allocate only 50-55%.
The hull hatch for entry – or escape, when that is required – is at the rear, not on the top, which can mean the difference between life and death for the crew of a damaged tank. Why this new Israeli design? What was the motivation? Protection of soldiers is the obvious but not the only reason. An exhaustive analysis of tank battle ballistic reports from 1948-1975 demonstrated that a tank is immobilized 100% of the time when enemy fire penetrates the soldiers’ compartment, but only 2% of the time when the engine is penetrated. Therefore, the Merkava design is intended not only to protect the crew but also to improve the ability of the tank and its crew to keep fighting.
I cannot say that this book includes all IDF innovations because there are simply too many, with more being developed all the time. However, it does include many examples from all branches of the military, and of both physical and cyber innovation – RPVs that become UAVs, the Iron Dome, the Gabriel anti-ship missile, Stuxnet, and many more.
There is also a chapter on what are considered to be the two most technical army units: the oft-discussed Unit 8200 and the almost unknown Unit 81 which has won more Israel Defense Prizes than any other army unit and whose specific projects are never mentioned in the press.
Although there are many examples of innovation, you will not find statements of general principles. For example, there are repeated cases of point and counterpoint, where improved offense leads to defensive innovation, which then leads to more offensive innovation. Or as another example, there are cases of sudden necessity based upon a new and shocking understanding of reality. These and other principles are illustrated but not stated. The principles are left to the reader to infer.
Innovation explained
A MILITARY background is definitely not required for the reader to enjoy this book and to come away with a new understanding of the industry. And, although technological innovations are discussed, no technical background is needed to follow the discussion. There is no math to speak of, not even detailed budgetary figures.
But there is indeed something that you do not often find in historical reviews of this nature. The examples in The Art of Military Innovation are not merely mentioned in passing, they are discussed in detail. If, for example, you want to understand exactly why the IDF’s Merkava tank is revolutionary, that is precisely what you will get, with a detailed list of the structural advantages of the tank, and the unique way in which the tank was developed.
If you are as fascinated with the IDF’s innovations over the past 75 years as am I and would like to take a deep dive into the non-technical details, this book is for you.
The writer is a patent lawyer in Israel with a background in physics and communication technologies. He is author of A Table Against Mine Enemies: Israel on the Lawfare Front. He served in the IDF, as did four of his children, including three sons who fought in the current war.
THE ART OF MILITARY INNOVATION:
LESSONS FROM THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES
By Edward N. Luttwak and Eitan Shamir
Harvard University Press
281 pages; $33