Hamas, Hezbollah: This is how Israel’s enemies were surprised by technological developments

During the Iron Swords War, technology became one of the cornerstones of the operational activity in the IDF, with digital systems and technological innovation contributing greatly to the management of the battle and to assisting the forces in the field. In an era where the war is multi-armed and the synchronization between the forces is critical, the Southern Command became a pioneer in the field of information extraction, application of systems Intelligence and improvement of field capabilities and operational control.

“We are an organization whose business is extracting information from the command headquarters and its units,” says MP Bi Data at the Southern Command, R.N.G. Alex Lidogoster. “The Southern Command is a pioneer among the spatial commands when it comes to dealing with these worlds. During the war, many, many ideas germinated here, not all of them reached implementation, but we came up with many dozens of products. Some deal with the collection of information, some deal with its organization, and the broader part deals with extracting the information “.
R.N.G. Lidogoster presents four capabilities, out of many, that were developed in the Southern Command during the last year of the war.

“The first product is called ‘Golden Clock’, a system aimed at shortening the evacuation time of the wounded from the battlefield to the hospitals,” he says. “We chose the name because a watch is something with which you check the time, and the word gold came from a medical concept called ‘Golden Hour,’ which means you have one hour to bring the injured person to the emergency room from the moment of injury. The longer time passes, the greater the risk to the patients’ lives. When we started measuring time The evacuation took almost two hours, and today, at the end of the first year of war, the average time is about an hour.

“Another project is called ‘Operational Safety Product’. The ground maneuver and battles brought a lot of incidents of operational safety. It could be an incident of a DOC, or a tank that did damage to our forces, safety incidents while fighting. Here, too, we provided a complete answer, a real digital suit for anyone who is in charge of the field within the command headquarters. According to statements by commanders, this system contributed greatly to the reduction of operational safety incidents, and it was also integrated into the entire learning process that the command maintains during the war. In this system, there are events and trends that are divided up to the level of the divisions, and you can see all the events.”

Sergeant Roi Paniya, a data analyst in the unit, explains about the third product, the development of which arose following the occupation of the headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces, near the Erez crossing. They had to jump to a new location and asked the unit to provide them with a new system. “This system actually allows the Israel Defense Forces to control everything The humanitarian aid that entered the Strip,” he says. “It also helps the forces in the field on a daily basis and creates synchronization with the UN. When the State of Israel stood before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the data was extracted from this system and sent there, to show that we do operate in a correct and controlled manner.

R.N.G. Lidogoster wanted to emphasize another project, perhaps the most important of all. “The army does not know how to exist without the reserve force,” he emphasizes. Everything is progressing and there are many gaps or holes in education, especially regarding the new systems that are constantly being developed.

This is where the digital portal system was born, which was intended to be the entry gate of the IDF, where all the products are accessed. All the digital happiness is accessed there, with a table of contents, and you can search by subject and get an explanation of the system, who is responsible for it and how you can get permissions, etc.”

The operational chat
Captain Dror is the team leader of the operational chat, which was developed in the compass unit that belongs to LOTM – the digital and information division in the IDF. Mezpan is the army’s software house and is responsible for the applications.

“The Compass unit accesses its products on the operational IDF cloud, which is also maintained by another unit in Lotem, the Maram unit. The goal of our unit is to provide products and promote the issue of control and control,” says Captain Dror. “We operate in two main systems. The first system is from PIT, and the second system, which I am responsible for – the operational chat.

The MPIT system is a digital map that presents all levels of decision-makers, including at the level of the Brigadier General and the Major General, a map of the data in real time and in 3D, so that they have all the relevant data so that the command and control axis can make information-based decisions.

“The operational chat system, which we worked on at the beginning of the war, is a messaging platform, just like WhatsApp, that works on the military’s stationary computers and mobile phones in the most secret network. The system allows for easy, simple and fast conversation in the form of private conversation between people, groups and channels. It actually helps to synchronize The entire IDF, from the maneuvering echelon to the headquarters echelon. All headquarters bodies can speak freely and simply.

“The chat crosses networks. It synchronizes together the Air Force, the Navy, the Ground Forces, the Defense Ministry and the various bodies of the Ministry of Defense. This thing is very critical for combat, it is fast, simple, convenient and available. It is possible to close circles of fire and integrate into all operational processes. One of the great achievements we have seen in combat in the last year is multi-armed specialization, that the Air Force knows how to conduct a dialogue easily with the ground forces and various command bodies.”

Captain Dror explains that from the operational chat, another system was born of the Mitzpan unit, which deals with holding the space. “The system gives warnings to the soldier at the edge of risks and threats. He receives the alert on his military cell phone, on the secret network.”

“You can call the Iron Swords War the first technological war,” says Captain Dror. “In this campaign, there are a lot of systems in the digital space. The amount of operational processes that technology helps to manage is enormous. They enable integrated multi-armed combat in a more efficient and precise way, which helps shorten important processes. One of the beautiful things about us in the unit is the rapid adaptability. As soon as the war broke out, the ability of All the bodies in the army that deal with the issue, such as cyber defenses, to learn quickly and change was amazing.”

Captain Dror emphasizes the importance of reservists. “There are a lot of people who served in the technological units and went into the high-tech industry. As the events of October 7 started, they came on their own initiative and volunteered, asking how they could integrate and help. This is how we had access to a professional and high-quality workforce, which already has years of experience in the industry. The connection between the regular and the reserve forces It’s a circle that feeds the organization from the inside, it brings us another layer of professionalism and innovation.”

Captain Dror recently finished his activity in the operational chat, and today he is the head of a section that deals with many developments, also with artificial intelligence. “The goal of all technological units, and in particular AI and algorithm solutions, is not to replace the human being at the end, they cannot replace humans completely. They optimize and integrate into the operational process. The goal is not to make technology for technology’s sake, but to see how it is possible to help the person at the end to manage his combat processes in a much more precise and sharp way.”

R.N.G. Lidogoster says in conclusion that one of the things he learned during the last year is how important the contribution of the soldiers in the various technological units is. “They give us the infrastructure that allows us to do our job. There is really an ecosystem here that we live in, and without this partnership and these connections we would not have been able to succeed.

“October 7 caught us by surprise. In fact, at 6:29 in the morning, most of the products that were in development or in use became irrelevant, and we were required to reinvent ourselves and adapt ourselves to the new reality. But we came to this changing battle with a lot of tools that we had accumulated before, and we knew how to establish and strengthen our relative advantage as a technological body within the command during the war.”