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Turn on the Light, Extinguish the Fire: Israel's New Way of War

(War on the Rocks) Brig.-Gen. Eran Ortal - During Israel's last operation in Gaza in May 2021, the Israel Defense Forces intercepted 90% of all Hamas rockets. What can the IDF do to improve their response? Future Israeli ground maneuvers in enemy territory will need to expose the enemy's projectile-firing capabilities and destroy them. Israel will need to "turn on the light" by employing a network of advanced sensors and "extinguish the fire" by linking those sensors to firepower in order to attack the missile launchers and intercept missiles ascending from enemy territory. The first obstacle in dealing with enemy missile salvos is the difficulty in locating them. Intelligence gathered before a conflict, as important as it is, is not sufficient against an enemy that has designed its posture around avoiding Israeli airpower. All advanced militaries are developing means of saturating the battlefield with ground and air sensors designed to detect the enemy. Tactical radar networks spread around the battlefield at appropriate locations, alongside land-based and aerial launch detectors, could discover the source of rocket, mortar, surface-to-air missile, and anti-tank fire accurately and in real time. Emptying a multiple-barrel missile launcher takes at least half a minute from the moment of first launch. A sophisticated sensor network could identify the enemy within seconds, which would allow forces either to attack or to track the enemy to his hiding position. Proximity allows the Israeli military to exploit improved sensing capabilities, place networked missiles in a tactical rear but physically close position, and quickly attack the sources of enemy fire. Enemy deployment of anti-tank weapons, mortars, rockets, and even surface-to-air missiles would go from relatively safe to very dangerous with the immediate attack of sources of enemy fire. Forward interception, also known as ascent-phase interception, is also possible thanks to the relative proximity to enemy launch sites. This type of interception would reduce the threat to the home front and create a sense of futility in the enemy about continuing the fight. Iranian-sponsored terrorist armies have flourished on Israel's borders, additional enemy launch bases are being developed in the region, and the Iranian regime has not changed its agenda. The concept presented here leverages the enemy's addiction to rockets in order to defeat him. The technology is available. It is time to turn it into an operational capability. The writer commands the Dado Center for Interdisciplinary Military Studies, a department of the Israel Defense Forces.
2022-01-20 00:00:00
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