Israel Lays its “Tefen” Procurement Plans

TROPHY on Merkava(click to view full) Authors like Victor Davis Hanson note that one of the strength of societies with accountable governments is that they prepare and fight as they live, allowing mistakes to be set right more quickly. Since war is often a matter of making the fewest or least important mistakes rather than winning through brilliance, this is an important advantage. Rome’s legions were annihilated at Cannae, but within a year they had restored their capability in full – and soon learned how to beat Hannibal. In that spirit, “Iran-Syria vs. Israel, Round 1: Assessments & Lessons Learned” offers some post-mortem assessments of the inconclusive 2006 conflict in Lebanon. With rumors of another round in the air, and Iranian nuclear efforts advancing, Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reports that the Israeli Defense Forces have done a lot of thinking, and laid their “Tefen” procurement plan to face whatever comes next. Highlights reportedly include… * Another reservist division (and possibly 2). * Continued production of Merkava Mark IV main battle tanks; this had been in question. * “Anti-missile defenses” in the Merkava Mk IVs and also in many of the Mark III and Mark IIs. This is almost certain to be […]