Tel Aviv “We don’t have to invest in the muscles of the soldiers, but in their brains”: This is how former Prime Minister and President Shimon Peres once summed up the tech order to the Israeli army. And the army sticks to it to this day. Innovations are “in our DNA,” says Michal Frenkel, who heads one of the country’s internal army innovation units.
The 40-year-old lieutenant colonel, who is tasked with preparing the armed forces technologically for the next challenges, describes the army as an innovation machine: “It’s as if you had thousands of start-ups running at the same time,” she says in her office at the army headquarters Center of Tel Aviv.
She wants to “infect officers and soldiers with the innovation virus” and attaches great importance to young people quickly learning how to use unconventional thinking to solve the country’s ever-changing security requirements.
While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) once frowned upon everything that “wasn’t invented here”, Frenkel is now also working with high-tech start-ups.
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The army is preparing for the future by adapting “revolutionary technologies” from the civilian world – from artificial intelligence to telecommunications to virtual reality. “Are you going to war? Don’t forget your virtual reality glasses,” joked one soldier.
The military and the start-up scene work closely together
Israel’s military is a people’s army, with women serving at least 24 months and men 32 months from the age of 18. This closely interlocks society and the IDF.
In Israel, almost all citizens over the age of 18 do several years of military service.
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire)
The training officers have access to most of the youth. Several months before being drafted into the Israeli military, recruits who pass the rigorous proficiency test are sent to elite units for intensive courses. In these, they learn, for example, offensive cyber techniques from the founders of start-ups.
Then, if they perform above average in the other tests, they are assigned to other elite units, such as the digital secret service or special units for technology development.
In addition to the interaction of “youth and IDF”, the symbiosis of start-ups and the army is decisive for the innovative strength of the army. Avi Veidman is a case in point.
After a successful army career in cyber units, he founded Nucleai five years ago with two other veterans of the same IDF unit, which aims to use artificial intelligence to provide insights into cancer biology.
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He is now using the computer vision technology he used in the army to analyze satellite images using artificial intelligence for his start-up. In the army, he looked for terrorists on satellite images, and now he’s looking for cancer cells, he says.
He sees other similarities between the army and start-ups. In the IDF environment in which he was involved, he often had to make decisions despite existing uncertainty – as is the case with his start-up today. And he’s learned to deal with time pressure.
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Veidman mentions another advantage of the IDF experience: Engineers not only know the needs of the army later in their careers, but also have an excellent understanding of what the tech field can contribute to defense.
The integration of start-ups into the army is also advantageous for the economy: many founders have military experience. For example, an analysis conducted by the Israeli business newspaper Calcalist revealed that numerous soldiers and officers who had served in the elite Cyber Unit 81 set up a start-up.
Ever since Israel gained independence in 1948, acquiring ever better weapons has been a major factor in the country’s military preparation.
Israel is one of the ten largest arms exporters
Israel now has an efficient armaments industry. The army is their most important customer, but because the IDF’s demand is too low, exports are said to help lower production costs.
In 2017-2021, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute ranks Israel among the top ten arms exporters, along with Italy, Britain, South Korea and Spain.
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One of the defense industry’s strengths is its proven ability to respond and adapt quickly to new threats. For example, when the radical Islamist Hamas built attack tunnels to attack Israel underground, the army installed a new system of powerful sensors and surveillance devices that allowed them to detect tunnels and then destroy them.
Or when the Palestinians fired rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip, defense engineers developed the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system to protect Israel’s civilians.
Hostile neighborhoods act as innovation drivers
The Israeli armaments industry also receives considerable support from the US government. Of the $1.8 billion in annual US military aid, about $475 million goes to Israeli defense contractors. For the Israeli military leadership, these funds will remain “indispensable” for the foreseeable future.
In all of this, the IDF has an advantage that no one really wants. Unlike in Europe, where, until the war in Ukraine, the army was primarily regarded as a “cost factor” because no enemy could be identified, no one needs to be told that Israel would not survive long without an army.
Israel, the EU and the US classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.
(Photo: IMAGO/NurPhoto)
The hostile neighborhood seems like a natural driver of innovation for Israel’s army. To protect the tanks against certain missiles, for example, the “Trophy System” was created, which surrounds the vehicle with a 360-degree protective shield. The US-supplied fighter jets will be retrofitted with Israeli technology, such as avionics equipment and color display processors.
Because the challenges are constantly changing, the military has to reinvent itself after every war, especially since the enemy also learns and improves from the confrontation with Israel, says a senior officer who until recently was responsible for research strategy.
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