BREAKING NEWS

IDF launches digital revolution to replace maps

The IDF is developing a digital battle command system that could replace the usage of physical maps, documents, and stickers traditionally used by the army to issue commanders with combat instructions, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
Maj. Moshe Castro, head of the Mission-Oriented Technological Branch at the IDF Training Campus in the Negev, told the Post on Monday that the new system can be used for both training and real-life missions.
Castro’s branch was set up last year to develop new techniques to enhance soldiers’ learning processes.
Maj. Castro and six IDF programmers, graphic designers, and engineers recently took part in a 30-hour "hackathon" conference, held by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where they unveiled the system.
"We demonstrated the prototype, and it worked," he said.
The new system, dubbed Noked (a Hebrew acronym for Digital Battle Procedure), "creates, on a screen, a 3-D digital table to serve various roles responsible for other forces, whether they are ammunition, infantry, or medical officers. Once the officers receive their battle commands, they can efficiently upload a map, and then place transparent layers on top of the map to show the latest positions of the forces," Castro explained.