The art of military innovation : lessons from the Israel Defense Forces / Edward N. Luttwak, Eitan Shamir.
Material type:
TextPublisher: Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2023Copyright date: ©2023Description: 281 pages ; 25 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780674660052
- 0674660056
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | New | 355.033 L974 | Available | 33111011325863 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A world-leading military strategist and an IDF insider explain the improbable success of the Israeli armed forces.
When the Israel Defense Forces was established in May 1948, it was small, poorly equipped, and already at war. Lacking sufficient weaponry or the domestic industrial base to produce it, the newborn military was forced to make do with whatever it could get its hands on. That spirit of improvisation carried the IDF to a decisive victory in the First Arab-Israeli War.
Today the same spirit has made the IDF the most powerful military in the Middle East and among the most capable in the world. In The Art of Military Innovation , Edward N. Luttwak and Eitan Shamir trace the roots of this astounding success. What sets the IDF apart, they argue, is its singular organizational structure. From its inception, it has been the world's only one-service military, encompassing air, naval, and land forces in a single institutional body. This unique structure, coupled with a young officer corps, allows for initiative from below. The result is a nimble organization inclined toward change rather than beholden to tradition.
The IDF has fostered some of the most significant advances in military technology of the past seventy years, from the first wartime use of drones to the famed Iron Dome missile defense system, and now the first laser weapon, Iron Beam. Less-heralded innovations in training, logistics, and human resources have been equally important. Sharing rich insights and compelling stories, Luttwak and Shamir reveal just what makes the IDF so agile and effective.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Raising An Army under Fire -- How Scarcity Can Force Innovation -- A Youthful Officers Corps -- Innovation from Below -- A Reserve Army of Innovators -- A Different Military-Industrial Complex -- High-Speed Development: From Missile Boats to Iron Dome -- Women in the IDF -- Military Doctrine and Innovation -- Innovation in the Air I: From Triumph in 1967 to Failure in 1973 -- Innovation in the Air II: Developing a Remedy -- Elite Units: The Mass Production of Military Excellence -- Military Entrepreneurs and Special Forces -- The Armor Corps: Discipline and Technological Improvisation -- Why the Merkava Is Different -- Units 8200 and 81.
"Why is Israel's relatively small and low-budget military also the world's most innovative, technologically and logistically? Edward Luttwak and Eitan Shamir look to the IDF's unique structure: integrating army, air force, and navy in one service, under an officer class constantly refreshed by short tenures, the IDF is built for agility and change"-- Provided by publisher.