As the possibility of a multi-front military conflict grows, IDF officers warned Monday that the Ground Forces are ill-prepared for battle.
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With the exception of limited-scale operations in the Gaza Strip, since the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the military has made a calculated choice to reduce the deployment of its Ground Forces, favoring the Israeli Air Force instead, mostly with the aim of minimizing casualties.
When IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi took office in 2019, he set out to improve the Ground Forces' operational capabilities, but with only a few months left on his term, senior officers warn that despite his best intentions, the reality on the ground is far different from the vision he introduced.
Kochavi has promoted the formation of various commands in the IDF, with operational needs at times taking a back seat to the needs of the headquarters running them. This may have resulted in the introduction of innovative combat abilities, but it has also fostered frustration, as some commanders said they feel military brass and the political echelon have little faith in their abilities.
These allegations grew following the decision not to deploy any ground troops during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021. Senior military officers, however, argued that ground maneuvers must always be the last resort. They also conceded that the third war with Hezbollah in Lebanon would require such deployment to ensure the IDF has the upper hand vis-à-vis the Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist group.
Ground Forces officers also cautioned that the Armored Corps, which shoulders the bulk of ground maneuvers, has been eroded to the point where its operational capabilities have been jeopardized.
The Armored Corps has been plagued with budget cuts for years and its pivotal role in any military operations receives little media attention, which has created a situation where it is no longer considered "attractive" to new recruits, who show a clear preference of high-profile infantry brigades and cyber units.
Compounding the situation further is the fact that the IDF has shuttered several Armored Corps brigades – in regular service and in the reserves – over the past few decades. This decision stemmed from various considerations, primarily the shift in the nature of the modern battlefield but as a result, the number of tanks the IDF has in 2022 has diminished. In fact, the corps now has only three armored brigades in regular service, one training brigade that joins the fighting forces in wartime, and only a handful of reserves brigades – all of which suffer from chronic personnel shortages.
All this could prove to be a major issue in the next large-scale war: The IDF's combat doctrine requires the integration of the various corps, and in wartime, units are organized into combined teams of infantry, armor, engineering etc. This means that if the IDF's armored brigades are ill-prepared for the war, the military's maneuverability as a whole would face a challenge, to say the least.
Moreover, IDF officers told Israel Hayom that in many cases, General Staff officers visiting units on the ground are not given a true assessment as to the troops' manpower status and operational readiness.
The IDF rejected the claims, calling them "false and baseless" and saying they "fail to reflect the situation in the IDF as a whole and particularly in the Ground Forces."
According to the military's statement, "The Ground Forces are evolving, changing, and adapting at a high rate to the [needs of the] future battlefield. This was defined as a central goal by the chief of staff as part of the 2015 Momentum [multiyear] work plan, and the military is investing considerable effort and resources, with the aim of bolstering the corps' operational edge, including an increase in firepower, intelligence, and technology capabilities, while strengthening multi-armed integration."
Further dismissing the suggestion that the Armored Corps' operational ability has been compromised, the military said that matter "has been tested this year in several drills, including in Chariots of Fire, and meets the required standards.
"In recent years, considerable resources have been invested to improve the readiness and competence of all ground units, regular and reserve, by increasing the quantity and quality of exercises and training, including the establishment of training simulators, and using technological improvements that promote improvement in training and in battle-readiness.
"The claim that resources were invested in headquarters at the expense of the Ground Forces is baseless and if anything, the opposite is true. As part of the Momentum plan, several commands and units were established the purpose of which is to reinforce the operational aspects on the ground. The goal of bolstering the Ground Forces is clear and it holds great promise for the military's operational prowess," the statement concluded.
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