It began not with a bang, but with a byte.
The current war between Israel and its enemies is the world’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) war, a former IDF senior officer told Defense & Tech by The Jerusalem Post.
After years of silence, the officer, once a key architect of the IDF’s digital transformation, spoke to Defense & Tech about how the IDF rewired itself for a new kind of fight.
“Technology isn’t nice to have; It’s essential,” he said. “These are new battlefields with new challenges and even new dimensions. We need to have accurate intelligence and precision capabilities.”
Over the past five years, the IDF has been working to strategically transform itself into a network-enabled combat machine, with AI and Big Data being key enablers to harmonize the flow of information across operational units and commands.
“Without these capabilities, we would have at least 5,000 more soldiers killed, and thousands more terrorists would still be alive,” said the former officer.
From analog to algorithm
Seven years ago, the IDF was still shackled to legacy systems, using fax machines, outdated servers, and siloed intelligence. Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Aviv Kohavi, the chief of staff at the time, envisioned something radically different: a battlefield where cyber, air, sea, and ground forces operated as one, connected by real-time data and precision targeting.
The digital transformation of the IDF was one of Kohavi’s top priorities when he began his term – not only to further strengthen the military but to provide the most advanced capabilities for its troops.
The transformation of the IDF into a more digital military was a fundamental change that affected everyone and everything in it.
But turning that vision into a multifront battlefield was far more complex. Another obstacle was the cultural challenge of getting the green light from senior officers who did not want to change their ways and move toward the digital era.
“It was like crossing the Red Sea,” the former officer said.
The IDF’s Digital Transformation Division was formed in 2019 to take all the potential that was happening in the civilian world and bring it to the military. As part of the C4i and Cyber Defense Directorate, the division leads the IDF’s digital innovation programs to connect all divisions and provide them with modern and fast infrastructure.
During his time as chief of staff, Kohavi talked a lot about multidimensional aspects of future fighting – the cyber spectrum, ground forces, air force, and navy altogether. And it became clear that they had to be connected, and that could not happen without digital and modern, fast infrastructure.
“How do you identify the enemy inside urban areas? You need more sources, sensors, and platforms,” the former officer said. “And then you need to be able to take all that data, integrate it, and send it to the officer’s iPad.”
From past to present
In the past, when a target was spotted and troops wanted to transmit the data to either a tank or aircraft, the process would take tens of minutes and involve a long chain of command before the approval was given to strike. By then, it would be too late.
Citing the Yom Kippur War, the former senior officer said troops “fought pretty much alone, with support being slow to arrive.”
But with the digital transformation, he said, ground troops can call in the target, and it would be struck by the platform best suited to take it out a short time later.
“We built AI models with 300 people and fed those models with all the data we collected,” the former officer said. “Some days, we had 400 new targets. Half were hit the same day. In comparison, in 2009, we would only get 50 to 100 new targets in a year.”
While the AI systems used by the military identify the targets, humans are always in the loop, as they are then independently analyzed by high-ranking officers to verify and confirm that the targets meet international law.
During the ground war in Lebanon last year, the former officer said, 80% of the IDF strikes were AI-driven, with algorithms identifying targets and distinguishing civilians from combatants in dense urban terrain.
And despite the outcry from international agencies that say the use of AI during wars have led to civilians being killed, it is the same in Gaza.
“We implemented AI in order to differentiate between civilians and terrorists,” he said. “We harness AI and technology to focus on the hostile forces.”
The former senior officer said the war Israel is currently fighting – whether in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, or Iran – is the first AI war, but many would argue that there have been others.
For example, having relied heavily on machine learning during Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021, the IDF said that the operation had been the first AI war.
“This is a first-of-its-kind campaign for the IDF,” a senior IDF officer said at the time. “We implemented new methods of operation and used technological developments that were a force multiplier for the entire IDF.”
Critics also say the use of AI to reduce civilian deaths is highly contested, with several investigations finding that AI systems have wrongly identified targets after using faulty data and flawed algorithms.
But the former senior officer pushed back hard on that, calling it “a lie.”
“AI and technology allow you to be more moral,” he said. “Intelligence and precision together allow for a different moral standard. We are implementing and incorporating AI in order to differentiate between civilians and terrorists, and the main rule in international law is the principle of differentiation between fighters and noncombatants.”
The IDF has been heavily faulted for the October 7 massacre after critically failing to protect communities despite its advanced technology deployed on the border with the Gaza Strip.
The former senior officer acknowledged that “while there is no boundary to technology, you cannot disqualify the knowledge and experience of troops.”
Nevertheless, during his last role in the IDF, the military prioritized technology over troops. And on October 7, 2023, and even prior, the AI-based intelligence system and advanced technologies simply did not function as expected.
Even though low-ranking officers warned of the threat looming across the border, they were ignored. And no one – and no technology – was able to grasp the enormity of the danger before thousands of Hamas terrorists broke through Israel’s walls and massacred more than 1,200 innocent people.
While the former officer may have stepped out of the spotlight after leaving the military, his legacy is etched into every encrypted message, every drone feed, and every strike that lands with precision.
Israel’s enemies may still rely on tunnels and rockets. But they continue to adapt and push the IDF to fight on multiple fronts, some visible, some not.
In order to stay ahead, intelligence must be instantaneous and decisions decentralized, because the battlefield is everywhere.