In a year of war since Oct. 7, Israel introduced new battlefield tech, honed its organization

JERUSALEM — In July, nine months after the devastating Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the Israel Defense Forces released one of its first publicly available investigations into the failures of that day, a study of the battle of Kibbutz Be’eri, where 101 civilians were killed during the Hamas attack.

But it is clear the Israeli military could not wait nine months to begin reacting to the Oct. 7 attacks, as it mounted an aggressive, deadly retaliatory campaign in Gaza. The IDF has been evolving in real time in the year of war since — using new technology, reorganizing its fighting forces and even adjusting the way it trains its soldiers.

With ground operations now expanding into southern Lebanon, where Israel hopes to push back Iran-backed Hezbollah, here’s a look at how Israel has responded to the demands of modern combat in the past year.

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New Tech, New Uses For Old Tech

Before the war began, the IDF was training the first crews of its infantry Nahal Brigade on the new wheeled Eitan armored personnel carrier, not knowing that it would shortly be making its combat debut. Since then, the new vehicles have been used in raids in Gaza and by the IDF’s 162nd Division during battles in Rafah in May.

To protect those systems, the Trophy active protection system has seen its share of fighting and appears to have performed well, as there’s little evidence of incapacitated tanks sporting the system, though several Namer APCs do appear to have been destroyed. Still, the IDF is being forced to innovate in some decidedly low-tech ways — like adding metal nets on the top of some tanks to protect them from top-down drone attacks, as seen in Ukraine.

As Breaking Defense has reported, the IDF has also transformed older vehicles into some of the first-ever robotic platforms to see combat. Unmanned versions of older M113 APCs have been spotted on battlegrounds in Rafah, and D-9 bulldozers are being remotely controlled to do dangerous grunt work like ground excavation, clearing rough terrain or setting up tank firing positions.

A new wheeled artillery system, called the Roem, is expected to be introduced to the IDF artillery corps soon, though it’s unclear when the first pieces will see action. Once deployed it will give the artillery an automated ability to fire more shells at a faster pace with fewer artillery pieces, replacing the older M109 howitzers, according to several Israeli reports.

Beyond vehicles, the IDF has made battlefield strides in networking, communicating between ground, air and naval forces. Handheld systems help soldier see assets on the battlefield, allowing better coordination between armor and drone operations, for example.

Israel has also used a large number of drones in the current war, including the older Hermes 450 and employing smaller Skylark drones with units that aid the artillery. In cases Breaking Defense saw during the war, various units have also acquired commercially available smaller quadcopters.

At the same time, the IDF has sought to counter drone threats using new technologies that can be placed on vehicles, or using hard-kill solutions such as fire-control sights on rifles and interceptors. With the exception of the first days of the war when Hamas used small drones, the IDF has confronted longer-range kamikaze UAV threats and has used the air force or Iron Dome to down them.

Lastly, at sea the IDF’s new Sa’ar 6 corvettes got their first combat experience in this war. They have served off the coast of Gaza and in the Red Sea. The naval version of Iron Dome, called C-Dome has also seen its first interceptions in the war.

Changing Structure

The IDF has undergone several organizational changes during the war, perhaps the most prescient of which was to bolster its forces in the north well before the announced ground operations in Lebanon. Back in April the IDF created a new Mountain Brigade to defend Mount Dov and Mount Hermon, a triangle of land bordering Lebanon and Syria.

The creation of the new brigade takes pressure off the IDF’s 769th territorial brigade, which is the eastern brigade of the 91st Division. The 91st is responsible for defending Israel’s border with Lebanon. The new Mountain Brigade comes under the control of the 210th Division, which historically defended the Syrian border along the Golan Heights.

In essence this shortens the defensive line of the 91st and lets it concentrate on the Hezbollah threat while providing a new unit to safeguard the unique mountainous terrain that forms a triangle between Israel, Lebanon and Syria.

The IDF is also expanding its combat helicopter squadrons. On the eve of the Oct. 7 attack the IDF only had two helicopters on station for an emergency, and they were both based at Ramat David base in the north. A recent article in the Hebrew-language website Mako noted “there seems to be unanimity in the IDF regarding the need to increase the array of combat helicopters of the Air Force, after the intention was to close one of the two squadrons. The need for them was sharpened by the events of October 7, and since then they have operated in all sectors.”

Now it appears the air force may acquire more combat helicopters to replace old Apaches as part of an ongoing multi-billion dollar expansion that has been in the works for years. The overall expansion will include new refuelers, heavy transport helicopters, more F-15s and the third squadron of F-35s that Israel has acquired. The war has also given Israel the chance to showcase its long-range bombing capability with two strikes on Yemen where the IDF used its aging refuelers and a variety of combat aircraft.

Israel has also embraced the prominence of drone warfare, creating a new squadron dedicated to the Hermes 900.

In the armored forces, the IDF began to bolster the regular armored brigades by creating new companies of regular army tank crews. This replaces the former model of having battalions that consist of two regular companies and a reserve company. It essentially means more tank crews that can be called upon to fight, rather than relying on as many reservists in the 7th, 188th and 401st regular armored brigades.

It takes time to train all these new companies, but the pressure on the armored corps is clear. The 7th armored served throughout the war in Gaza, first with the 36th Division and then with the 9th Division. It was transferred north with the 98th in September 2024 and entered Lebanon on Oct. 1. The 401st Brigade has served in Gaza since the ground offensive began while the 188th entered Lebanon on Oct. 2 after guarding northern Israel for eight months.

The last major change for the ground forces has been the experience gained in Gaza against tunnels. The IDF has learned to identify and destroy tunnels and also search for them. Much of this work was conducted by the IDF’s 98th Division and its commandos and combat engineers. However, other forces linked to the 162nd Division and other units have done the same work. Throughout most of the war the IDF has attached the 7th Armored brigade to the 98th Division, which could become a semi-permanent change, reducing the 36th Division from two armored brigades to one armored brigade.

Reservists And Training

The first impact of the war has been the unprecedented pressure put on the IDF by calling up reservists for a long period of time. Historically, Israel fought short wars that lasted from a week to several months. Or, in times of long-term fighting, such as the Second Intifada, the war was usually of such low intensity that it didn’t require reserves to serve for months on end.

In the war that began in October 2023, Israel initially called up around 300,000 reservists. Many of the combat units have now seen up to eight months of service in the last 12, according to numerous reservists who spoke to Breaking Defense.

The long experience of reserve service has led to extensive and improved training of the reservists. For instance, some went through two weeks of specialized training before ground operations in Gaza, and other units conducted brigade and battalion level training in northern Israel in expectation of a ground offensive into Lebanon.

Other personnel changes could be on the horizon. Israel has weighed extended the age of service for retirement from the reserves. In addition, the lack of manpower for the IDF has put a spotlight on the need to enlist ultra-Orthodox Jews who are usually exempt from service. Regular army service for conscripts may also be extended.

In the end, the IDF is a force that’s evolving as it’s fighting. With Israeli soldiers in Lebanon now and no end to the fighting in sight, it’s sure to keep evolving — perhaps beyond what the failure of Oct. 7 alone could have taught.

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