"The Era of Short Campaigns is Over": The Shift in Air Force Perception for War Against Iran
Brig. Gen. Sh. concludes his term as Head of the Equipment Group in the shadow of the October 7 failure, revealing technical lessons: from the push for armament independence to the tense monitoring of Trump's F-35 deal with Turkey. "We created technological projects at an unprecedented pace; the ability to bring complex engineering solutions under fire is something that did not exist in such volumes in the past." The promise: changes to the aircraft will be a game-changer in the next campaign.
The path of Brigadier General Sh. to the chair of the Head of the Equipment Group in the Air Force began very far from the Air Force headquarters. "I grew up in Kibbutz Dafna, studied aeronautics, and after an officers' course, I was assigned to the Air Force," he recalls in an interview marking the end of his role. Most of his service was at headquarters. In the first half, he dealt with the engines of the "Sichonit," the "Tzofit" aircraft, and the refueling array. Later, he served as Head of the UAV Department and Head of the Aircraft Department. Since the summer of 2022, he has headed the Equipment Group. To understand the weight of the position, Brigadier General Sh. clarifies, one must understand the unique structure of the Air Force as a highly centralized body in the way it manages and cross-references all its platforms. The Equipment Group includes eight different departments — from the worlds of technology and air defense to construction infrastructure, based on the concept that every base in the Air Force is first and foremost an operational airfield. Beyond the headquarters departments, the end-units of the Air Force operate under the Head of the Equipment Group — the "Ofek" unit, the IA-22 unit (the aero-mechanical unit that disassembles and reassembles aircraft down to the level of a single screw), and Unit 108, which does the same in the digital world. The responsibility is end-to-end, from work on cutting-edge systems that have just recently entered service, such as the new "Gideon" tanker received last month, to veteran platforms that have been serving in the Air Force since before the Head of the Equipment Group himself was born.
The war that broke out on October 7 caught the entire IDF at a defining moment, and of course the Air Force, which simply was not there for the citizens of Israel. Since then, everyone in the Air Force mentions the moment of the failure and the low point of the force. In the Equipment Group, immediate lessons were learned. "The first and central thing is the way of readiness for surprise scenarios," emphasizes Brigadier General Sh. "This is the central lesson for the entire IDF, and certainly for the Air Force. Our systems are like a vehicle flying at a very high level of operational readiness, and we have fundamentally changed the way we prepare the aircraft every morning anew."
"The arena is changing at a dizzying pace." Another key pillar that the Air Force is focusing on is deepening operational endurance. In the last three years, the technical array has developed tools to ensure functional continuity over time. The experience gained in combat has shown that endurance is measured not only by the duration of the sortie in the air, but by a whole envelope of elements, including dealing with external temperature and extreme environmental conditions. But the most significant change, according to him, was recorded in the field of force buildup during combat. "In the end, you buy an aircraft, but it doesn't stay the same for a long time. The arena is changing at a dizzying pace. We understood during the war how critical the importance of adapting tools in real-time is. We created technological projects at an unprecedented pace, and this rapid organization at headquarters and the ability to bring complex engineering solutions under fire are something that did not exist in such volumes in the past."
Much has been said about the issue of spare parts and Israel's situation in the world regarding the purchase of spare parts from foreign countries. The entire IDF had to deal with gaps in days of prolonged fighting and international public opinion that is closing in on the State of Israel. In the Air Force, they explain that despite the gaps that existed, solutions were found and operational continuity was not harmed. Those same sources note that over the years, Israel will have to move to independence in armaments to a certain degree, and reduce the extent of reliance on external factors. Looking five years ahead, the Air Force is expected to undergo a comprehensive renewal process: continued procurement of F-35 aircraft, expansion of air defense systems, and alongside this, dealing with the rising average age of existing equipment, a challenging maintenance and engineering task in itself. The operational concept itself is already changing its face. "We no longer assume that the next campaigns will be short," clarifies Brigadier General Sh. "We are currently running advanced models aimed at seeing how to deal with long and prolonged wars. These tools exist, and this concept is already rooted." The change also includes higher operational flexibility and even changes in the deployment of the order of battle, such as moving a combat helicopter squadron to the Ramat David base. At the same time, the Air Force is marking the space arena as a central value for development. Although today the Air Force is already present in space in the fields of aerial communication and intelligence, the Equipment Group marks this as an extraordinary learning competition that will only intensify.
"Complex aspects." When looking at the regional space and the force buildup of the neighbors, Brigadier General Sh. is also concerned about the Turkish arena. Let us recall that the President of the USA, Donald Trump, recently said that he intends to sell F-35 fighter jets to Ankara. "There are many complex aspects here," says Brigadier General Sh. "It is important to remember that Turkey is a NATO country first and foremost, and this relationship has great significance. In the past, it was part of the global F-35 program, and we will continue to monitor developments and trends in this arena." Regarding the procurement of the Air Force's own platforms and armaments, Brigadier General Sh. clarifies that the advantage lies not only in the purchase of the equipment itself, but in what Israel pours into it. According to him, "the basic configuration of an advanced platform is in itself a routine-breaker. But the improvements, adaptations, and unique changes that we in the technical and engineering array of the Air Force make on it are what truly improve capabilities and change the rules of the game on the battlefield. This is exactly the reason why the Air Force insists on bringing the most advanced tools and turning them into an absolute Israeli advantage."
