WarSclerotic

The Israel Defense Forces last week completed a ‎first-of-its-kind drill in the new battle order and fighting ‎doctrine it plans to use if a war ‎breaks out in the northern sector.‎

The IDF has conducted several routine drills in the ‎northern sector in recent months as part of the new ‎defense doctrine, which is based on the high probability that in ‎another war, the IDF would be required to fight on multiple fronts.‎

Last week’s drill was conducted as part of a large exercise on the Golan ‎Heights, which the IDF said was “meant to improve the emergency and ‎wartime readiness of ‎the Northern Command and ‎exercise multidimensional command ‎and General Staff ‎scenarios in the sector.” ‎

The drill, headed by the‎‏ ‏‎36th Armor Division – the ‎‎largest regular-service armored division in the IDF – ‎‎included the deployment of thousands of Armor, ‎Engineering and Infantry soldiers on the ground, ‎alongside the extensive ‎use of drones and other ‎‎unmanned aerial vehicle‎s, as well as cyber, ‎intelligence-gathering and reconnaissance technology, and ‎advanced air defense systems. ‎

The IDF has defined a new, ground-oriented combat ‎dimension, extending 1,000 feet into a potential ‎battleground, across which troops can use ‎intelligence drones and logistical UAVs and deploy ‎electronic warfare technology.‎

‎”We want every officer deployed in the sector to be ‎able to see the same images the commanders see as ‎they advance,” a senior defense official said.‎

Another defense official said the IDF is ‎exploring the deployment of an “invisible electronic ‎net” on future battlegrounds, with the aim of detecting ‎and monitoring anything that may give out electronic ‎signals. Those will be uploaded into a smart-trigger ‎system that can process the information into a ‎viable target within minutes. ‎