Reeling from sharp public criticism of the defense budget, in recent years the IDF has been striving to save money through the use of systems and means for substantially reducing its operating costs and the cost of training its personnel. Air force pilots, tank crews, and missile operators are already used to training with simulators of various types instead of expensive live ammunition. Infantry troops are using paintball in special containers brought to the areas where they are stationed that correspond to relevant scenarios of urban warfare, instead of being brought to special training facilities. Home front personnel is also repeatedly conducting exercises in multi-casualty events in the heart of large cities, using special simulators. The IDF says that the technological capabilities developed in recent years make it possible to shorten the duration of training, while the quality remains high and much money is saved.
A joint development program of the IDF land forces and Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) (IMI Systems) is expected to also change and make much cheaper the training procedures for mortar teams in combat battalions. For the past six months, the land forces and IMI Systems have been conducting a field trial of a new mortar shell designed for training purposes that can be used again in subsequent exercises.
The new training shell can be used at least 40 times, thereby saving 40 real mortar shells. "A real mortar shell costs several thousand shekels, and our development involves a new shell that can be used many times, and costs only a few dozen shekels," Lieut. Col. David Artzi, head of the weapons department in the IDF land forces, told "Globes." "The new shell can be launched exactly like an ordinary one, but has a range of only up to 400 meters, not the 4-5-kilometer range of the mortar shell used in actual fighting. When it lands, the shell does not explode; it can be collected at the end of the exercise and prepared within a short time for another exercise."
So far, trials of the new shell have been successful. Reused mortar shells, slightly scratched and worn in some cases, are being launched repeatedly in the IMI trial grounds at various and sundry targets, and the company and the IDF land forces are satisfied with the results.
The IDF land forces expect trials of the reusable shells to be completed by the end of the year, at which point the IDF will prepare to purchase large numbers of them for inclusion in the training programs for mortar teams in the various battalions. "It will save the IDF many millions," Artzi predicted. "In addition to the money saved, ammunition that can be used many times is likely to reduce the IDF's need to maintain large firing ranges."
The fact that the new mortar shell does not explode upon contact with the ground is in itself an important development, in view of past cases in which training exercises of IDF forces with live ammunition caused fires in nature reserves, for example in the Golan Heights and southern Israel.
Technologies for rescue forces
In another development, the "First Responders" joint program of the US Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate and the Israel Ministry of Public Security is making great strides: The Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation program has approved a $2 million investment in new technologies developed jointly by Israel and US companies.
The program is aimed at developing innovative technologies to improve the operational capabilities and deployment of policing forces, firefighters, and other rescue agencies in the various event theaters.
The first two ventures to receive support from BIRD are a precision identification system being developed by Israel company ARTsyst360 and US company Lion Group, and a system for locating and reporting inside buildings being developed by Israel company SayVU Technologies and US company Opto Knowledge Systems. BIRD says that the total budget for the two ventures is $4.5 million, including private sector investments, and that the ventures have significant commercial potential. "The joint proposals submitted for the first cycle of the "First Responders" program are a clear indication of the level of creativity and innovation made possible by cooperation between US and Israeli companies," said BIRD executive director Eitan Yudilevich.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 7, 2016
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