The IDF plans to build underground supply depots that will be protected in the
event of a major missile bombardment on military bases throughout the
country.
Led by OC IDF Technology and Logistics Directorate Maj.-Gen.
Kobi Barak, the program – which the General Staff has budgeted – will lead to
the construction of three integrated, centralized and advanced supply depots in
northern, southern and central Israel.
Under the current format, the IDF
maintains a fuel depot, a separate food supply center, a base for spare parts
and additional bases that supply ammunition.
“These new bases will have
all of the supplies under a single roof,” a senior officer from the Technology
and Logistics Directorate said. “It will make the process of supplying units
more effective and will be done with advanced technology and automated
systems.”
Since the bases will become prime targets for Syria, Hezbollah,
Iran and Hamas, the IDF is planning to fortify them with significant defenses
and to eventually protect them with Iron Dome counter- rocket batteries. Part of
the supply depots will be buried underground to prevent it from being damaged in
any future missile onslaught.
In addition to supplying units, the
Technology and Logistics Directorate is also responsible for opening supply
lines to units operating behind enemy lines and ensuring the flow of supplies –
fuel, food, ammunition and spare parts – for the duration of what could be an
extended conflict.
Last year, The Jerusalem Post revealed that the IDF
was dispersing spare parts and ammunition throughout central and southern Israel
to protect them against missile fire in a future war, expected to primarily
affect the ability to receive supplies in the North.
In addition, the IDF
has also dispersed kits in undisclosed locations throughout the Golan Heights
and the Galilee so that they will be close to the northern front in the event of
a war and at the same time provide protection from potential missile fire,
expected to be directed at IDF bases.
The IDF is now also planning to
lease civilian warehouses where it can store nonsensitive equipment – such as
dry foods and uniforms – and protect them from future missile
attacks.
“The enemy knows where IDF bases are located but will not know
which civilian warehouses we are storing supplies in,” the officer
explained.
Under the Ground Forces Command’s operational doctrine,
infantry, armored and artillery units are expected to take with them enough
supplies to support operations inside enemy territory for a limited number of
days. Afterward, they are expected to open supply lines, which will be used to
resupply them throughout a war.