Fearing a missile onslaught in a future war, the IDF is dispersing kits with
spare parts throughout northern Israel that can rapidly be deployed to the front
lines of a battlefield.
The dispersion of the kits is ongoing and began
one year ago under the supervision of the IDF Ordnance Corps and its commander
Brig.-Gen. Zvi Kraus.
The corps has purposely dispersed the kits in
undisclosed locations throughout the Golan Heights and the Galilee so 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 distribution of the kits was done as part of an overall IDF
effort to retain what the military calls “operational continuity” in a future
war against Hezbollah or Syria.
“During a future war, the enemy will
target IDF bases in an effort to prevent the drafting of reservists and the
equipping of units,” a senior officer explained.
The kits are comprised
of spare parts, mostly required by armored units and forces traveling in armored
personnel carriers.
“We expect that it will take time before we will be
able to move these parts to the front and therefore a unit will have them nearby
if they are needed,” another officer said.
The Ordnance Corps is also
looking to upgrade its tank recovery capabilities with a new platform called the
M88I, which would be better equipped to rescue damaged Merkava tanks in a future
war.
The army currently uses an older version of the M88 from the 1970s
that has difficulty lifting the military’s latest Merkava Mk 4 tank. The
recovery vehicles are viewed as a critical platform for the IDF – which is
concerned about the better quality of Russian-made anti-tank missiles that
Hezbollah, Hamas and Syria have obtained in recent years.