Will the dominance of the Air Force be harmed in the IDF after the war? According to the general (resp.) Yitzhak Barikformer Commissioner of Soldier Acceptability, the concept that wars can be decided through air superiority needs to change.
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“The Air Force did not understand its place in the new world,” Barik claimed this morning in an interview with Radio 103FM, “For years, a lobby in the Air Force has been working to strengthen the Air Force and not everything else. Not everything they promote is suitable for the wars of the future. I look at what is happening at the bases for their readiness, The army is not preparing itself for thousands of missiles that will fall on bases. I sat with two senior commanders in the air force, the force must understand its place. We must stop with the seizure of another squadron and another squadron.”
“We fell in love with the F35 as if this advanced aircraft would win wars,” he added, “the Air Force managed to plant its concept in the heads of the leadership, and the heads of the General Staff are unable to deal with it. Yes the air force destroyed houses, but how will it deal with a regional war? He did not understand that a missile force was needed. A generation is growing up here that does not understand how the war of the future will be conducted.”
“We need to be smart so we don’t lose all the achievements”
According to Barik, after the war the IDF will be required to rebuild itself to adapt to the challenges that have arisen from the ongoing fighting – and according to him he himself is interested in taking an active part in the reconstruction process. I need to be in the process, I know the problems. We have a document, I want to be among those leading the plan. It is necessary to lead the construction of the army to a regional war for which it is not prepared. The problem for regional warfare with a very large fragmentation and with very difficult problems of shooting missiles. You have to start working, and I’m there.”
According to the Major General, the process of rebuilding the IDF will be carried out simultaneously with Israel’s stay in the Gaza Strip, a fact that will only add to the challenge of carrying out the process. Now it is irrelevant. But we have to be smart so that we don’t lose all the achievements. There is a humanitarian crisis and even epidemics in Gaza. We can lose all our achievements in a second. The world will throw us away. It would be total chaos. We must not reach a situation of a humanitarian crisis with millions of refugees, that will be our responsibility.”
The fighting of IDF forces in the Gaza Strip (photo: IDF spokesperson)
“We will control security, but the world will control the directorate that will be established there. We must not control them. And as long as we hold on to civil responsibility, it is only a matter of time that there could be an explosion in all the refugee camps there. That is why we need to look strategically. We can reach To strategically exhaust Hezbollah in the north, Hamas in the south, and Yash. The State of Israel needs to produce strategic evidence in a lifetime of fighting, not wait for the day after.”