Since its establishment as a state Israel's geo-political circumstance demands that the small nation state adapt to an ever changing threat environment. Israeli defense policy traditionally consisted of deterrence through a dominant military...
This monograph determined that the tactical and strategic experience of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) since 1981 was relevant to the future operational environment of the U.S. Army. The IDF’s experiences are relevant because the Israeli Army...
Throughout its history the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has exhibited brilliant tactical performance. The War of Independence, the Sinai Campaign, the Six Day War, and even the 1973 War placed Israel on a martial pedestal with few peers. On closer...
Recently the Economist magazine referred to the Arab-Israeli conflicts as "The Hundred Years' War" in its coverage of the Israeli Defense Forces' assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip during Operation CAST LEAD. Comparing this seemingly intractable...
A historical case study concerning the Israeli Army's response to the Palestinian "Intifada" or uprising in the late 1980's and early 1990's provides instructive planning considerations for likely future application of U.S. military force in an...
A historical analysis of the 2006 Lebanon War discussing Israeli and Hezbollah doctrine, operational and tactical problems surrounding Israeli use of effects-based operations and systemic operational design, dependence on air power, and the...
In a time where the role of heavy mechanized units seems to play a secondary part to the rapid deployability and lightning-quick raids conducted by light forces, understanding how "shock battle " can still be waged at the operational and tactical...
The purpose of this monograph is to analyze the Heavy Brigade Combat Team's (HBCT) engineer force structure to answer the question: Does the HBCT have the necessary embedded engineer capabilities to conduct full spectrum operations, rapidly...
There is a healthy debate about hybrid warfare in American military journals and publications. Much of this discussion describes hybrid threats as a nascent phenomenon, citing the Israeli Defense Force's 2006 struggle against Hezbollah militants in...
This monograph examines the feasibility of cross-attaching heavy and light forces for the conduct of offensive desert operations. Cross-attaching heavy and light forces is not a new concept, but current U.S. Army doctrine in this area is shallow....
The closing of the July–August 2006 Second Lebanon War left the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) an introspective organization. Once an example looked to by much of the world for lessons on martial prowess, the nation’s military—indeed, the...
On July 12, 2006, Israel went to war with Hezbollah in response to the killing and capture of Israeli soldiers along the southern Lebanese border. Believed at the time by many in the West to be an overreaction to a relatively minor border incident...
For the first time since its establishment as a nation, and following four successive victories against various Arab conventional armies between 1948 and 1973, Israel was forced to withdraw militarily from south Lebanon in May 2000. This thesis...
The Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle's (BFV) introduction in 1983 inaugurated a fundamental change in the perception of the mechanized infantryman's role in combat. For the first time, the mechanized infantry company/team possessed the requisite...
This monograph examines the culture of risk and uncertainty tolerance within the US Army officer culture. The author defines culture as the collective experiences, training and education among officers. The central research question is does the...
It is not known against whom or where the United States Army will fight next, nor is it clear what the nature of that conflict will be. What is relatively certain is that the United States Army will likely initially get it wrong, regardless of its...
Sorrells, William T., Downing, Glen R., Blakesley, Paul J., Pendall, David W., Walk, Jason K., Wallwork, Richard D.
Systemic Operational Design (SOD) is an application of systems theory to operational art. It is an attempt to rationalize complexity through systemic logic employing a holistic approach that translates strategic direction and policy into...
The U.S. Army, after years of false starts and unfilled promises, is about to make good on its commitment to field an unmanned aerial vehicle system at the maneuver brigade level. Called the Shadow 200 tactical UAV (TUAV), it promises to...
In August 2010, the U.S. Army published The United States Army Operating Concept 2016-2028 (AOC). The AOC attempts to forecast the Army's future capability requirements based on analysis of possible threats. In past and current deployments, the...
This study is a historical analysis of two definitive periods of the conflict between Israel and Egypt - the War of Attrition between July 1967 and August 1970, and the period of "No Peace, No War" between August 1970 and 6 October 1973. The study...