The Art of Military Innovation

Lessons from the Israel Defense Forces

Edward N. Luttwak, Eitan Shamir

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Year: 2023
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• eBook ISBN:
  9780674295131
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Raising an Army under Fire
• 2. How Scarcity Can Force Innovation
• 3. A Youthful Officer Corps
• 4. Innovation from Below
• 5. A Reserve Army of Innovators
• 6. A Different Military-Industrial Complex
• 7. High-Speed Development: From Missile Boats to Iron Dome
• 8. IDF Women as Innovators
• 9. Military Doctrine and Innovation
• 10. From Triumph to Failure in the Air, 1967 and 1973
• 11. Airpower Restored with a Technological Leap
• 12. Elite Units: The Mass Production of Military Excellence
• 13. Military Entrepreneurs and Special Forces
• 14. The Armored Corps: Discipline and Technological Improvisation
• 15. Why the Merkava Is Different
• 16. Units 8200 and 81
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Acknowledgments
• Index