The document, dubbed the Momentum Plan, partly approved by the Israeli defence minister, stipulates the purchase of new gear, equipment, combat vehicles and vessels, along with an upgrade of the IDF's entire existing armament, The Times of Israel reported on Thursday.
"The threats are not waiting for us [to be ready for them] [...] We are in a singular place in which if we don’t step on the gas hard now, and literally increase the momentum, a gap will develop — not in a month, not in a year, but in the next few years. This will decide how we win", Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi said, cited by The Times of Israel.
The Momentum Plan, known in Hebrew as Tenufa, seeks to the superiority of IDF intelligence and technology, along with significant improvements to how Tel Aviv will wage conventional warfare in the air, on land and at sea. The plan will enhance "lethality in the IDF, in scope and in accuracy", according to Aviv Kohavi.
2/ The Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi: “The plan will enhance lethality in the IDF, in scope and in accuracy. The challenges around us do not allow us to wait - therefore, despite the complexity, the multi-year plan is underway.” pic.twitter.com/hpPapoEjsB
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 13, 2020
According to the IDF top brass, Israeli forces must improve their ability to simultaneously identify various targets and rapidly destroy them. To achieve this goal, the Israeli military has established working groups comprising specialists from various fields including human and signal intelligence as well as improved threat analysis, according to The Times of Israel.
“What’s the plan based on? On the highly increased ability to discover the enemy, on the highly increased ability to destroy the enemy, on integration that allows us to be very, very effective [...] Carrying out the multiyear Momentum Plan will allow the IDF to significantly increase its capabilities. The plan will increase the lethality of the IDF… [it] will create conditions to shorten the duration of a war”, Kohavi suggested.
Tenufa also envisages a significant improvement of communication between troops and logistical support on and off the battlefield. This concept will reportedly be embodied in software that Tel Aviv describes as the “Waze of War” - a reference to a popular Israeli-based navigation app - which would allow an Israeli military leader to observe every troop movement and follow complex targets on a virtual map in real-time.
An implementation of the IDF's aspirations, however, faces significant barriers. According to the media report, the Momentum Plan is a much more expensive successor to the Gideon Plan - which has guided Israeli weapons purchases over the last years - and any implementation of a new guideline is trapped by the political uncertainty currently stalling the ruling establishment in Tel Aviv.
According to The Times of Israel, the Momentum Plan in its present form is unlikely to be authorized unless a new Israeli government is formed.
