French arms buying puts technocrats at the helm

Although defense costs already consume a third of Israel’s gross national product, the highest proportion of any nation in the world, its defense forces remain outnumbered by those of its adversaries. Replacements for the F-4E, such as the F-16, may cost more than $40 million apiece, including spare parts. The philosophy that existing weapon platforms should be modernized, not discarded, enables Israel to maintain the balance of power both quantitatively and qualitatively. Thus, Israel has refitted U.S. M-60 tanks with 105-millimeter guns that fire a variety of high-explosive ordnance, laser-range finders, low-profile turrets, and advanced armor to neutralize and deflect artillery shells, making the tanks the equal of anything in Arab arsenals. Many of the changes Israel has made in U.S. systems are designed to simplify servicing, and modular board systems developed in Israel for aircraft electronics have even been adopted by the U.S. military. Of necessity, Israel has become a master in modifying the seals of lubricated equipment to minimize corrosion from sand and dust. Tanks are now stored battle-ready in what are essentially atmosphere-controlled zipper bags. The physical environment is addressed in ways intended to reduce combat casualties: smoke emitted by its General Electric 5-79 engine once made the Phantom an easy target in the clear skies of the Middle East. A division of IAI developed a filter system, since adopted by many F-4E users, that eliminates the trail. Many M-60 tank crews were severely burned when their vehicles exploded after being struck by Soviet-built antitank missiles during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The culprit was the hydraulic fluid used to turn the turret. A compound with a higher flash point was substituted. The Israeli-designed automatic fire; suppression system is now standard in Israel’s tanks. Reactive armor, whose “plates” explode outward when struck, was perfected in Israel over the past IO years. Attached to vulnerable areas of the tank, the innovative reactive armor neutralizes antitank fire and is revolutionizing tank design worldwide. In the United States (and the Soviet Union), institutional barriers impede communication between engineers, administrators, planners, military officers, and soldiers in the field; such obstacles are less of a problem in Israel. Universal conscription and annual reserve duty mean that engineers may spend their time in uniform operating the very systems they have designed or modified. The sheer intimacy of Israeli society ensures that problems with a weapon system encountered in the field by someone’s nephew or son soon get back to those who are in position to do something about it.