Israeli military deems the latest pilot program with women in tanks a success
The Israeli military has decided that following a successful pilot program, female soldiers can serve in the Armored Corps’ tank brigades to serve along the country’s borders.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi accepted the recommendation of the head of the Ground Forces Maj.-Gen. Tamir Yadai and determined that the pilot program of having female soldiers serving in tanks along the borders was successfully completed “and from now on they will be permanently assigned to the position,” the military said.
“We have successfully concluded a professional and in-depth process, as part of the concept that the IDF is opening up more and more combat positions for women,” Kohavi said. “I trust the female soldiers serving in the tank to carry out the mission of border defense professionally and with great success. They will be a significant part of the IDF’s operational effort.”
What caused this decision from the armed forces?
The decision was made after both “professional and operational considerations in accordance with the needs of the military,” the statement read, adding that all the female soldiers who completed the program met all the pre-defined criteria.
The criteria set by the military included meeting all the professional criteria, successful operational activity, successful manpower building and effective command over the regimental framework that integrates both infantry and armor, prolonged motivation to serve in the position over time, and not exceeding the average dropout for female combat soldiers.
The pilot lasted two years and included a training period as well as a year-long operational deployment along the Egyptian border, serving under the command of the Paran Brigade as tank operators in the mixed-gender Caracal Battalion. It saw three full recruitment and training cycles, with several of the women ending the program as officers.
The Caracal Battalion is one of four mixed-gender infantry units within the IDF’s Border Defense Corps which is responsible for defending Israel’s borders with Jordan and Egypt. The 240-kilometer-long desert frontier with Egypt sees regular smuggling attempts as well as terror attacks by the Islamic State terror group’s Sinai Province.
After the end of the pilot that began in November 2020 and finished this past August, the military found that the women were able to meet the majority of the criteria and carry out the mission successfully. And while there remain certain issues that need to be worked on such as infrastructure, the military did not think that the pilot failed in any way.
Following Kohavi’s decision, the framework that currently exists will become permanent, and women will be able to draft into it in future draft cycles. They will serve in companies under the Border Defense Corps in order to strengthen the battalions along the borders.
There are currently four tank crews that have been deployed along the border with Egypt. Two women have become officers and another three are currently cadets at the military’s officers course in Bahad 1. Another 26 commanders have been trained and the battalion and division commanders have expressed their satisfaction with the activity carried out by the female tank crews.
Starting off strong at the Egyptian border
Last July 15 female combat fighters were deployed to the Egyptian border as part of the pilot program. They operated Merkava IV tanks after they completed their training at the IDF’s Armored Corps School at the Shizafon base in the Negev desert.
Cpl. Noam Hen, a driver of one of the tanks deployed to the border, told The Jerusalem Post in a recent interview, that she was in shock that she drives such a powerful platform.
“Driving a tank is not like driving a car,” she told The Jerusalem Post as she showed us her tank. “As a driver, the biggest fear is a fire. There’s a lot of danger inside a tank, not only the enemies who are outside.”
According to her, the women in the pilot are doing the exact same thing as their male counterparts. They went through the same basic training and are carrying out the same operational orders along the border.
“The hardest thing about being in the armored corps is taking care of the tank. Tanks need a lot of love and care. It takes a lot of energy, 24/7,” Hen said.
Some 19 women began the second pilot and completed basic training with troops from the mixed-gender Border Defense units and only 15 completed advanced training as tank operators.
The IDF first announced in June 2018 that the military had successfully completed a pilot program to train women on tanks. Two-thirds of the women who started the program finished, including four who became tank commanders. But in April 2019, the military announced that despite the successful pilot program, women would not be able to serve in the Armored Corps.
The second pilot program was at least twice the size of the previous one and the military has increased the height and weight requirements of women who want to take part in the program and expanded the time that women will be deployed to carry out operational missions along the borders with Egypt and Jordan.
According to the military, Kohavi along with officers from general staff and other senior Armored Corps officers have held extensive discussions examining the integration of women into tanks that would be deployed along the borders.
The discussions included a thorough clarification of the achievements and results of the initial pilot, as well as insights and analysis of medical data from women in combat roles in other corps in the military.
Following the discussions, Kohavi decided that while the pilot showed the real potential for women in the armored corps, there were also several gaps, including the difficulty of loading shells.
In January 2020, two of the women who completed the pilot, Osnat Levi, and Noga Shina, along with one of the officers who accompanied their training Afik Shema, filed a petition against the decision to bar women from the armored corps.
Several months later in September, 19-year-old Or Abramson from the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron and Maayan Halberstadt of Jerusalem also filed a petition seeking to have the military explain why women are barred from serving as tank drivers, gunners, radio operators, and commanders.
Their petition, which calls for the Supreme Court to change regulations to allow women to serve in frontline combat positions, claims that the army’s refusal to let them serve in tanks is a substantial violation of equal rights.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post