New Israeli technology speeds up warfare
alert, and they need to be as operationally developed as they can,” Ebbutt said.
The army says it started using the first, basic version in 2005, but it did not include all units and functions. The latest, completed in 2009 and in training since last March, allows all forces on the ground to communicate instantaneously.
“Visually, now everything is on the map, so it’s much easier to coordinate,” said the battalion commander whose men were being trained. “You can easily understand the map and the position of forces.” He spoke on condition of anonymity under military rules.
On a stretch of sand near the army base at Shivta, deep in Israel’s southern Negev desert, six artillery cannon stood with their barrels aimed at targets about four miles (six kilometers) away. Commanders in a nearby armored vehicle stared at two screens, watching all movement on an interactive satellite map.
Pink squares marked each cannon, dotted lines of shell trajectory extended from their barrels and circles showed the expected blast radius of any shells fired.
Different symbols marked other army vehicles, their locations kept up to date with GPS–like devices. All the vehicles carried similar screens, giving soldiers a real time map of the battlefield.
One soldier demonstrates how to add a new target to the map: A tap on the screen places it, then he can describe its size and character.
Seeing the target, a commander can then order a strike with a few more taps, deciding who will fire and how much. The order immediately appears on those units’ screens.
The system’s newest version, built by Israeli defense contractor Elbit, has yet to be battle–tested, but Israel used an earlier one in its Gaza offensive two years ago, Ben–Shushan said.
That war, launched to stop militant rocket fire on Israeli towns, killed about 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. Four of the ten Israeli soldiers were killed by friendly fire, but Col. Gil Maoz, head of Israel’s Digital Army program, said the technology helped to prevent other Israeli fatalities.
Israel had only an early version of the system during its war with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah in 2006, which killed about 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis. An Israeli investigation into the war, which was widely seen as a failure, criticized the inability of commanders to relay key information to the field.
Maoz said having the system then could have lowered the Israeli death toll.
Elbit spokeswoman Dalia Rosen said that what sets the Israeli system apart from others is the ease with which it allows land, naval and air forces to communicate with each other and its ability to link everyone from rank–and–file soldiers in the field to the highest commanders.
She said Australia purchased Elbit communications technology for its own battle management system in a deal last year valued at $298 million.
