Ya'alon: IDF cuts 'revolutionary', will produce new army

By BEN HARTMAN

Defense minister touts investment in technology as making "revolutionary" changes to the military that will produce a different kind of IDF, in spite of wide-ranging controversial budget cuts that will diminish resources.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (R) looks into Syria on tour of Golan Heights Photo: Ariel Hermoni, Defense Ministry spokesman

Conventional warfare waged between armies, last seen by Israel in the Yom Kippur War, has become less relevant for the IDF, and upcoming reforms will help the Israeli military adapt to the changing nature of warfare, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) said on Thursday.
“We are not enslaved to technology - we are using it and adapting it to the new reality wherein the army vs. army conflicts that we last saw 40 years ago in the Yom Kippur war are becoming less and less relevant.”


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• IDF presents deep cuts in 5-year budget plan

Ya'alon comments came the day after the IDF announced a series of cost-cutting measures in the coming five years that they believe could save several billions shekels. The cuts, which will still need to be approved by the cabinet, include firing 3,000 to 5,000 career soldiers, and downsizing and closing flight squadrons, armored and artillery units, and naval deployments.
Ya'alon said the reforms “will help fighters operate with greater efficiency, while at the same time exploiting their human and technological advantages that will allow them to achieve victory in battle swiftly and decisively.”
"Due to the changing threats around us and the capabilities that the IDF has developed we have concluded that we must lead a meaningful reform and not one that shall enslave the future for the sake of the present.
Ya'alon's speech emphasized the push for hi-tech, sophisticated weaponry, saying that “the foreseeable future stands to lead us to battles which will be determined by superior IDF technology, in the air, land and sea, with less heavy tools and through more and increasing use of sophistical and unmanned technology which give us a significant advantage over any enemy.”
"We stand before a revolutionary multi-year plan, and within a few years we will see a different IDF."
Ya'alon also said the IDF will continue to work to preserve its technological advantages in the region, largely by focusing on what he called the "building-blocks" of this approach, precision ammunition, cyber defense, communication, and intelligence."