dragoon500ly
01-01-2013, 11:11 AM
The State of Israel at the Start of the Twilight War
Sources: The Almanac of World Military Power and The Military Balance 83/84-Military Technology magazine
Area: 8,017 square miles (does not include territories occupied since June 1967)
Population: 4,100,000
Total Active Regular Armed Forces: 164,500 (an additional 409,500 reserves can be available within 72 hours)
Gross National Product: $21.7 billion
Annual Military Expenditures: $8.24 billion
Fuel Production:
Crude Oil: 42,000 metric tons
Refined Petroleum Products: 8.12 million metric tons
Electric Power Output: 16.5 billion kwh
Merchant Fleet (ships 1,000 tons and over): 43 ships; 401,000 gross tons
Civil Air Fleet: 28 major transport aircraft
The Israel Defense Force originated in the Haganah, a Jewish underground defense organization started during the Palestine Mandate in the 1920s. The transformation of these forces into the IDF reserve and regular components upon independence in 1948 was organizationally simple. Not only had these forces considerable experience in guerrilla warfare against the British and Arabs in Palestine, but they were augmented after World War Two by Jewish veterans of the British, American and other armies, including a number of highly trained and experienced middle to senior-level officers. With the popular determination to establish and defend Israel tempered by the modern war experience of others, a highly effective military instrument appropriate to the defense needs of the country evolved during the early years of independence. The form of these forces has been shaped by Israel’s geographic location, the close identification of the Israel citizen-soldier with the state, his skill, ingenuity and motivation, acquired from five major conflicts with Arab regulars (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982) and numerous border clashes with irregular forces. The IDF has demonstrated a substantial and consistent combat effectiveness superiority over all of its Arab enemies.
Actual control of the IDF is vested in the Prime Minister and the cabinet. Direct responsibility for administering the armed forces is exercised by the Minister of Defense. The Chief of the General Staff is also the chief of staff of the army and presides over the tri-service unified Defense Forces. The General Staff directs activities and operations of the combat commands (navy, air force, three territorial commands, Paratroop Command and the Armored Command), the Training Command and NAHAL (Fighting Pioneering Youth, a paramilitary organization).
All Israeli military planning concentrates on the Arab threat. While some Arab states reluctantly acknowledge the permanent existence of Israel, it is extremely difficult to allay Israeli fears that the Arabs ultimately intend to render Israel politically, military and economically impotent. Israel expends a crushing percentage of its resources on security and defense. Since the 1967 Six Day War, Israeli dependence on the United States for the purchase of weapons has markedly increased.
Military service is universal for men and women (except for the Arab 10% of the population); men 18-29 years of age serve 36 months and unmarried women 18-26 serve 20 months from their eighteenth birthday. Service in the reserves is required up to age 55 for men and 34 for women.
The IDF comprises a regular professional nucleus of about 25-30,000, with two yearly conscript classes of about 25,000 each. About 75,000 are normally on active duty at any one time. This active forces has two major elements: a mobilization base (including a training cadre and recruits in training) and first-line defense units such as air defense, sea patrols and units along the border.
The senior service school is the National Defense College, a tri-service institution which conducts a ten-month course in strategy and politico-military affairs. The Command and General Staff College has a course focusing on General Staff operations, technique and procedures. Many officers are also sent to foreign staff colleges and war colleges for training, mostly to the United States.
The logistical system is adequate and efficient, principally because of the Israelis’ high level of managerial and technical skill and their wide scale adoption of modern business machines and methods. An important handicap is the continuing dependence on foreign sources for major items of combat equipment. Modern, large, defense-related industries are being developed for the purpose of rendering Israel more self-reliant and relatively independent of foreign sources of military hardware.
In the field, responsibility for logistical operations devolves primarily upon the territorial commanders. They are responsible for arming and equipping mobilized reserve forces in their areas and for providing logistical support to all units coming under their control. Supply depots are located at key points to provide arms, equipment and field rations in the event of mobilization and to furnish base support for combat operations. Maintenance is conducted as far forward as resources and the situation permit.
As an extremely small state surrounded by much larger, well-armed neighbors with varying degrees of hostility, Israel has considered retention of lands occupied in the 1967 war as essential for its security. The treaty signed with Egypt in 1979 returned the Sinai to Egyptian control, but the future of the Gaza Strip, the west bank of the Jordan River and the Golan Heights that border Syria remains unsettled. With the Arab states united in opposition to the treaty and to Egypt, the possibility of a peaceful agreement about these areas seems remote. Unless a future Egyptian government renounces the treaty and joins its military forces with those of the other Arab states, a direct attack in force on Israeli territory is unlikely. However, the militant Palestinians in the Palestine Liberation Organization, with varying degrees of support from the Arab nations and bases in Lebanon pose a constant threat of guerrilla attack on Israeli targets near the border.
A prime threat to Israeli security is posed by the PLO, the militant Palestinians who claim title to all Israeli territory and maintain refugee and guerrilla camps in Lebanon from which attacks on Israel are launched.
Israel’s situation has led to a strategy based on preemptive offensive strikes by closely coordinated modern land, air and sea forces against any seriously threatening Arab forces. Border incidents and infiltrations prompt instant, severe Israeli reaction. Border police and fortified farms along the border provide the tripwire against incursions and are backed up by mobile army units. Surface-to-Surface missiles are available as retaliation for any possible Egyptian or Syrian missiles delivering high explosives against Israeli cities
A number of factors permit this strategy. First is the high literacy and technical competence of the Israeli citizenry, plus physical fitness derived through good nutrition, rural life and fitness programs. Also contributing is the military experience of Israel’s leaders, going back to World War Two and enriched by further experience in the successful major campaigns against Arab armies. These factors, plus the motivation of sled-survival have resulted in very high morale and esprit de corps in a relatively homogeneous and united population. All of this permits utilization of the most modern weapons, bold, rapid and sometimes complex maneuvers, and an extremely rapid mobilization.
Since 1967, the United States has been the principal supporter of Israel. U.S. military assistance to Israel since the end of the 1973 war has averaged about $1.8 billion per year. About half of this sum, including forgiven loans, must be considered grant aid (U.S. aid to Israel is funded under the Foreign Military Sales Program and the Security Supporting Assistance Program). Israel has received some of the most modern and sophisticated U.S. weapons. Israel’s indigenous industry complements the U.S. aid program significantly. It has developed some weapons systems, notably aircraft, missiles, boats, tanks, electronic systems and small arms. Israeli industry has exported arms to South Africa, Taiwan, and some Latin America countries. Other states would welcome Israeli assistance, as they have in the past, if a settlement with the Arabs were to relax the Arab political pressures that have led most of them to break diplomatic relations with Israel.
The Israeli Defense Forces
The Army
Personnel: 135,000 (20,000 regulars and about 100,000 conscripts); a total of 450,000 when fully mobilized.
Organization:
11 Armored Divisions
33 Armored Brigades (3 tk and 1 mech inf bns)
5 Mechanized Brigades (3 mech inf and 1 tk bns)
5 Paratroop Brigades (4 inf bns?) these are listed as mech/paratroop, only one serves in a abn role
12 Territorial/Border Infantry Brigades (NAHAL) (4 inf bns)
15 Artillery Brigades (each of 5 bns)
Major Equipment Inventory:
1,100 Centurion tanks (105mm gun)
650 M-48 tanks (105mm gun)
1,010 M-60 tanks (105mm gun)
440 T-54/55 (105mm guns
150 T-62 (115mm guns)
250 Merkava I/II (105mm guns)
4,000 M-113
1,300 half-tracks (M-2, M-3)
400 RBY, RAM, BRDM-1, BRDM-2 and Shoet Mk2 armored cars
200 OT-62
500 BTR-40/-50P/-60P/152/Walid APC
100 130mm towed guns
50 M-68/-71 155mm towed hows
100 D-30 122mm towed hows
70 M-101 105mm towed hows
140 M-107 175mm SP guns
48 M-110 203mm SP hows
300 Soltam L-33/M-50 SP 155mm hows
300 M-109A2 155mm SP hows
300 122mm, 135mm, 240mm, 290mm MRL
20 Lance SSM
900 81mm, 120mm and 160mm mortars (some SP)
100 106mm recoilless rifles
2,100 TOW, Cobra, Dragon, Picket, Milan ATGW
2 btys with 24 Vulcan/Chaparral
900 20mm, 30mm, 40mm AA guns
1,200 Redeye, Stinger MANPADS
On Order: 125 M-60 tanks, 300 Re’em AFV, 800 M-113 APC, 200 M-109A2 SP 155mm hows, 24 M-107 175mm SP guns, 10 Lance SSM, 300 TOW, 600 Dragon ARGW
Training: Reserves are called up for training 14-31 days per year, and one day per month; officers and NCOs receive special courses for an additional week per year.
The Navy
Personnel: 3,500 regulars and conscripts; 10,000 when fully mobilized, including 500 Naval Commandos.
Major Equipment:
3 Type 206 submarines
2 Saar 4.5-class Corvettes
8 Reshef-class (Saar 4) missile attack boats
6 Saar 3-class missile attack boats
6 Saar 2-class missile attack boats
2 Flagstaff-class hydrofoils
37 Dabur-class patrol boats
2 Dvora-class patrol boats
6 Hawk-class patrol boats
1 Landing Ship Tank
3 Landing Craft Mechanized
3 Landing Craft Utility
4 Seascan 1124N maritime-reconnaissance aircraft
On Order: 4 Saar 5-class corvettes, 3 Seascan ac.
The Air Force
Personnel: 26,000 regulars and 2,000 conscripts; 37,000 when fully mobilized
Organization:
2 FGA/Interceptor squadrons with 40 F-15C
5 FGA/Interceptor squadrons with 121 F-4E
5 FGA/Interceptor squadrons with 150 Kfir C-1/C-2
3 FGA/Interceptor squadrons with 61 F-16A, 8 F-16B
4 FGA/Interceptor squadrons with 130 A-4N/J
1 reconnaissance/ECM squadron with 13 RF-4E, 2 OV-1E, 4 E-2C, 4 RU-21J, 2 EC-130, 4 Boeing 707 ECM
1 Transport Wing with 7 Boeing 707 (2 tankers), 20 C-130E/H, 18
C-47, 2 KC-130H
Liaison Aircraft: 1 Islander, 5 Do-27, 14 Do-28D, 18 Cessna U-206C, 2 T-41D, 2 180, 12 Queen Air, 2 Westwind, 20 Super Cub
Trainers: 73 TA-4E/H, 50 Kfir TC-2, 85 Magister
Helicopters: 8 Super Frelon, 33 CH-53D, 12 AH-1G/S, 2 S-65C, 25 Bell 206, 60 Bell 212, 17 UH-1D, 300 Hughes 500MD
Missiles: 600 IHAWK launchers in 15 battalions
On Order: 11 F-15, 72 F-16, 60 Kfir C-2, 24 AH-64, 200 IHAWK
Paramilitary
Virtually the entire Israeli population, excluding Arabs, is assigned civil defense and home guard duties. Communal farms are well organized for defense with fortifications and stocks of arms and ammunition. Older men and women and youths are well trained to man these positions; many are veterans of the Defense Forces or participated in the guerrilla struggle in Palestine before 1948.
The principal paramilitary force is called NAHAL (Fighting Pioneering Youth), an organization that combines military service with agricultural training. NAHAL’s prime military mission is to serve as first line defense against ground attack along the borders and to prevent infiltration. A secondary mission is to assist and support the army in performing duties in the occupied territories.
Sources: The Almanac of World Military Power and The Military Balance 83/84-Military Technology magazine
Area: 8,017 square miles (does not include territories occupied since June 1967)
Population: 4,100,000
Total Active Regular Armed Forces: 164,500 (an additional 409,500 reserves can be available within 72 hours)
Gross National Product: $21.7 billion
Annual Military Expenditures: $8.24 billion
Fuel Production:
Crude Oil: 42,000 metric tons
Refined Petroleum Products: 8.12 million metric tons
Electric Power Output: 16.5 billion kwh
Merchant Fleet (ships 1,000 tons and over): 43 ships; 401,000 gross tons
Civil Air Fleet: 28 major transport aircraft
The Israel Defense Force originated in the Haganah, a Jewish underground defense organization started during the Palestine Mandate in the 1920s. The transformation of these forces into the IDF reserve and regular components upon independence in 1948 was organizationally simple. Not only had these forces considerable experience in guerrilla warfare against the British and Arabs in Palestine, but they were augmented after World War Two by Jewish veterans of the British, American and other armies, including a number of highly trained and experienced middle to senior-level officers. With the popular determination to establish and defend Israel tempered by the modern war experience of others, a highly effective military instrument appropriate to the defense needs of the country evolved during the early years of independence. The form of these forces has been shaped by Israel’s geographic location, the close identification of the Israel citizen-soldier with the state, his skill, ingenuity and motivation, acquired from five major conflicts with Arab regulars (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982) and numerous border clashes with irregular forces. The IDF has demonstrated a substantial and consistent combat effectiveness superiority over all of its Arab enemies.
Actual control of the IDF is vested in the Prime Minister and the cabinet. Direct responsibility for administering the armed forces is exercised by the Minister of Defense. The Chief of the General Staff is also the chief of staff of the army and presides over the tri-service unified Defense Forces. The General Staff directs activities and operations of the combat commands (navy, air force, three territorial commands, Paratroop Command and the Armored Command), the Training Command and NAHAL (Fighting Pioneering Youth, a paramilitary organization).
All Israeli military planning concentrates on the Arab threat. While some Arab states reluctantly acknowledge the permanent existence of Israel, it is extremely difficult to allay Israeli fears that the Arabs ultimately intend to render Israel politically, military and economically impotent. Israel expends a crushing percentage of its resources on security and defense. Since the 1967 Six Day War, Israeli dependence on the United States for the purchase of weapons has markedly increased.
Military service is universal for men and women (except for the Arab 10% of the population); men 18-29 years of age serve 36 months and unmarried women 18-26 serve 20 months from their eighteenth birthday. Service in the reserves is required up to age 55 for men and 34 for women.
The IDF comprises a regular professional nucleus of about 25-30,000, with two yearly conscript classes of about 25,000 each. About 75,000 are normally on active duty at any one time. This active forces has two major elements: a mobilization base (including a training cadre and recruits in training) and first-line defense units such as air defense, sea patrols and units along the border.
The senior service school is the National Defense College, a tri-service institution which conducts a ten-month course in strategy and politico-military affairs. The Command and General Staff College has a course focusing on General Staff operations, technique and procedures. Many officers are also sent to foreign staff colleges and war colleges for training, mostly to the United States.
The logistical system is adequate and efficient, principally because of the Israelis’ high level of managerial and technical skill and their wide scale adoption of modern business machines and methods. An important handicap is the continuing dependence on foreign sources for major items of combat equipment. Modern, large, defense-related industries are being developed for the purpose of rendering Israel more self-reliant and relatively independent of foreign sources of military hardware.
In the field, responsibility for logistical operations devolves primarily upon the territorial commanders. They are responsible for arming and equipping mobilized reserve forces in their areas and for providing logistical support to all units coming under their control. Supply depots are located at key points to provide arms, equipment and field rations in the event of mobilization and to furnish base support for combat operations. Maintenance is conducted as far forward as resources and the situation permit.
As an extremely small state surrounded by much larger, well-armed neighbors with varying degrees of hostility, Israel has considered retention of lands occupied in the 1967 war as essential for its security. The treaty signed with Egypt in 1979 returned the Sinai to Egyptian control, but the future of the Gaza Strip, the west bank of the Jordan River and the Golan Heights that border Syria remains unsettled. With the Arab states united in opposition to the treaty and to Egypt, the possibility of a peaceful agreement about these areas seems remote. Unless a future Egyptian government renounces the treaty and joins its military forces with those of the other Arab states, a direct attack in force on Israeli territory is unlikely. However, the militant Palestinians in the Palestine Liberation Organization, with varying degrees of support from the Arab nations and bases in Lebanon pose a constant threat of guerrilla attack on Israeli targets near the border.
A prime threat to Israeli security is posed by the PLO, the militant Palestinians who claim title to all Israeli territory and maintain refugee and guerrilla camps in Lebanon from which attacks on Israel are launched.
Israel’s situation has led to a strategy based on preemptive offensive strikes by closely coordinated modern land, air and sea forces against any seriously threatening Arab forces. Border incidents and infiltrations prompt instant, severe Israeli reaction. Border police and fortified farms along the border provide the tripwire against incursions and are backed up by mobile army units. Surface-to-Surface missiles are available as retaliation for any possible Egyptian or Syrian missiles delivering high explosives against Israeli cities
A number of factors permit this strategy. First is the high literacy and technical competence of the Israeli citizenry, plus physical fitness derived through good nutrition, rural life and fitness programs. Also contributing is the military experience of Israel’s leaders, going back to World War Two and enriched by further experience in the successful major campaigns against Arab armies. These factors, plus the motivation of sled-survival have resulted in very high morale and esprit de corps in a relatively homogeneous and united population. All of this permits utilization of the most modern weapons, bold, rapid and sometimes complex maneuvers, and an extremely rapid mobilization.
Since 1967, the United States has been the principal supporter of Israel. U.S. military assistance to Israel since the end of the 1973 war has averaged about $1.8 billion per year. About half of this sum, including forgiven loans, must be considered grant aid (U.S. aid to Israel is funded under the Foreign Military Sales Program and the Security Supporting Assistance Program). Israel has received some of the most modern and sophisticated U.S. weapons. Israel’s indigenous industry complements the U.S. aid program significantly. It has developed some weapons systems, notably aircraft, missiles, boats, tanks, electronic systems and small arms. Israeli industry has exported arms to South Africa, Taiwan, and some Latin America countries. Other states would welcome Israeli assistance, as they have in the past, if a settlement with the Arabs were to relax the Arab political pressures that have led most of them to break diplomatic relations with Israel.
The Israeli Defense Forces
The Army
Personnel: 135,000 (20,000 regulars and about 100,000 conscripts); a total of 450,000 when fully mobilized.
Organization:
11 Armored Divisions
33 Armored Brigades (3 tk and 1 mech inf bns)
5 Mechanized Brigades (3 mech inf and 1 tk bns)
5 Paratroop Brigades (4 inf bns?) these are listed as mech/paratroop, only one serves in a abn role
12 Territorial/Border Infantry Brigades (NAHAL) (4 inf bns)
15 Artillery Brigades (each of 5 bns)
Major Equipment Inventory:
1,100 Centurion tanks (105mm gun)
650 M-48 tanks (105mm gun)
1,010 M-60 tanks (105mm gun)
440 T-54/55 (105mm guns
150 T-62 (115mm guns)
250 Merkava I/II (105mm guns)
4,000 M-113
1,300 half-tracks (M-2, M-3)
400 RBY, RAM, BRDM-1, BRDM-2 and Shoet Mk2 armored cars
200 OT-62
500 BTR-40/-50P/-60P/152/Walid APC
100 130mm towed guns
50 M-68/-71 155mm towed hows
100 D-30 122mm towed hows
70 M-101 105mm towed hows
140 M-107 175mm SP guns
48 M-110 203mm SP hows
300 Soltam L-33/M-50 SP 155mm hows
300 M-109A2 155mm SP hows
300 122mm, 135mm, 240mm, 290mm MRL
20 Lance SSM
900 81mm, 120mm and 160mm mortars (some SP)
100 106mm recoilless rifles
2,100 TOW, Cobra, Dragon, Picket, Milan ATGW
2 btys with 24 Vulcan/Chaparral
900 20mm, 30mm, 40mm AA guns
1,200 Redeye, Stinger MANPADS
On Order: 125 M-60 tanks, 300 Re’em AFV, 800 M-113 APC, 200 M-109A2 SP 155mm hows, 24 M-107 175mm SP guns, 10 Lance SSM, 300 TOW, 600 Dragon ARGW
Training: Reserves are called up for training 14-31 days per year, and one day per month; officers and NCOs receive special courses for an additional week per year.
The Navy
Personnel: 3,500 regulars and conscripts; 10,000 when fully mobilized, including 500 Naval Commandos.
Major Equipment:
3 Type 206 submarines
2 Saar 4.5-class Corvettes
8 Reshef-class (Saar 4) missile attack boats
6 Saar 3-class missile attack boats
6 Saar 2-class missile attack boats
2 Flagstaff-class hydrofoils
37 Dabur-class patrol boats
2 Dvora-class patrol boats
6 Hawk-class patrol boats
1 Landing Ship Tank
3 Landing Craft Mechanized
3 Landing Craft Utility
4 Seascan 1124N maritime-reconnaissance aircraft
On Order: 4 Saar 5-class corvettes, 3 Seascan ac.
The Air Force
Personnel: 26,000 regulars and 2,000 conscripts; 37,000 when fully mobilized
Organization:
2 FGA/Interceptor squadrons with 40 F-15C
5 FGA/Interceptor squadrons with 121 F-4E
5 FGA/Interceptor squadrons with 150 Kfir C-1/C-2
3 FGA/Interceptor squadrons with 61 F-16A, 8 F-16B
4 FGA/Interceptor squadrons with 130 A-4N/J
1 reconnaissance/ECM squadron with 13 RF-4E, 2 OV-1E, 4 E-2C, 4 RU-21J, 2 EC-130, 4 Boeing 707 ECM
1 Transport Wing with 7 Boeing 707 (2 tankers), 20 C-130E/H, 18
C-47, 2 KC-130H
Liaison Aircraft: 1 Islander, 5 Do-27, 14 Do-28D, 18 Cessna U-206C, 2 T-41D, 2 180, 12 Queen Air, 2 Westwind, 20 Super Cub
Trainers: 73 TA-4E/H, 50 Kfir TC-2, 85 Magister
Helicopters: 8 Super Frelon, 33 CH-53D, 12 AH-1G/S, 2 S-65C, 25 Bell 206, 60 Bell 212, 17 UH-1D, 300 Hughes 500MD
Missiles: 600 IHAWK launchers in 15 battalions
On Order: 11 F-15, 72 F-16, 60 Kfir C-2, 24 AH-64, 200 IHAWK
Paramilitary
Virtually the entire Israeli population, excluding Arabs, is assigned civil defense and home guard duties. Communal farms are well organized for defense with fortifications and stocks of arms and ammunition. Older men and women and youths are well trained to man these positions; many are veterans of the Defense Forces or participated in the guerrilla struggle in Palestine before 1948.
The principal paramilitary force is called NAHAL (Fighting Pioneering Youth), an organization that combines military service with agricultural training. NAHAL’s prime military mission is to serve as first line defense against ground attack along the borders and to prevent infiltration. A secondary mission is to assist and support the army in performing duties in the occupied territories.