Why Israel needs war

Israel is very attached to its US-funded Qualitative Military Edge. The idea is that Israel is uniquely vulnerable in a uniquely dangerous neighborhood and the only way it can guarantee its survival is by keeping technologically ahead of its enemies. But there’s another dimension to this that gets far less attention: Israel’s need to perpetuate a climate of war in order to sustain a demand for innovation among the customers of its lucrative arms industry. If regional and global peace were to ever break out, it would be a disaster to Israel’s economy.

At Wired, Amir Mizroch writes: Nano drones that an infantryman can pull out of his pocket; helicopters piloted by robots who extract wounded soldiers from the battlefield; micro satellites on demand; large spy balloons in the upper reaches of the stratosphere; virtual training with a helmet from your office; algorithms that resolve pilots’ ethical dilemmas (so they won’t have to deal with those pesky war crimes tribunals); and farming out code to a network of high school kids.

Since mid-2009, some 300 Israel Air Force officers have been brainstorming about the next steps for one of the world’s most advanced air forces, and the main pillar of Israel’s strategic power. This “IAF 2030″ project has just come to an end. Besides a standard press release issued by the military, little has been disclosed about it. Exclusive details are reported here for the first time.

The task of preparing the project was given to Major Nimrod Segev, head of the IAF’s long-term planning department. Segev divided his 300 officers into nine teams: Advanced Information Technology, Vast Data, Space, Cyber, Environment, Intelligence, Human Factor, Organizational Behavior, and a ‘Red Team,’ to challenge the other eight’s assumptions.

The participants were asked to think ahead — far ahead — something that doesn’t come easy in the military culture here, where long-term planning is almost unheard of. What changes would it have to make in weapons systems, platforms, technology, manpower, and organizational behavior to meet potential new threats? What new planes, guidance systems, and technology would they want? Let loose, the officers were told. Don’t worry about the how and the how much; just let your imaginations go. The air force even brought in Israel’s number one dreamer — President Shimon Peres — to fire their imaginations with a pep talk.

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One thought on “Why Israel needs war

  1. DE Teodoru

    THINK AHEAD…not for war but for business> Israel steals and then throws on the market whatever it perfects. The issue is not not security but making money!

    It is a shame that some of the world’s best minds are twisted in service of the Holocaust Psychosis but then are turned into a commercial rather than security goal. These fancy war toys are then used in all sorts of global insecurity. But then the Israelis come up with a new counter-toy, and so goes the only real Israeli export: DEATH!

    If anyone recalls the Pollard case, that’s what it’s all about: traitors that steal secrets that Israel then sells. That’s why no US president would dare let him loose (except the ultimate politico, Obama). But Israel insists because it feels it must show that any thief that sells to Israel it will protect. This is weird as it leads to nothing but waste of great human potential. I find it criminal that young brilliant minds are thus polluted, deceived into thinking that they think for Israel security rather than fir merchants of death.

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