Throughout its existence, the State of Israel and its defense armed forces have had to face military and security challenges. Those challenges appeared in the shapes of wars and military campaigns that brought the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to its current advanced capabilities. Nevertheless, the IDF’s achievements, if not being carefully looked over, might become a trap in terms of future operational and capability needs.

Israel is facing security challenges on every front. These challenges are a result of the unstable times we live in. As such, the IDF is confronted with semi or non-state actors — Hezbollah, Hamas, Nusra Front and the Islamic State. At the same time, although reduced and improbable, traditional threats of military formations have not disappeared. We are faced with the extensive threat of “rocket terrorism” in the hands of those organizations. These trends are taking place in the shadows of the nuclear aspirations of Iran.