The IDF experiment in southern Lebanon has been exposed
In the northernmost IDF outpost in the security zone in southern Lebanon sat a “surge company”. A secret armored company, which every soldier who served in the outpost knew that its tanks should not be touched. Of course they did not know the reason – these are tanks with a “purple thunder” (רעם סגול) system. Because of anti-tank missiles that were still in development.
Twenty years after the company was disbanded, the full story of the experiment conducted in real conditions, against an enemy, in southern Lebanon, was allowed to be published. Even today the fighters who served in the company are not sure if it was a successful experiment or a failure.
Hermon David was a young and poisoned officer in a surge company 22 years ago. “We were a very secret company,” he said for the first time about the experiences in the experiment. “We were regularly stationed at the basin outpost, the hottest, most complicated and most threatened place – at the end of the security strip. All the time we had to cover the tanks and equipment and hide our mission.”
At that time, many armored companies operated and fought in the security zone, but unlike the other companies, surge fighters served continuously in southern Lebanon. “We were stationed in the hottest sector in Lebanon, the basin post, which abducted many fighter fighters in those years. Beyond trying to test the system we also had a lot of active successes. Our force was very skilled, with combat experience on the ground, constantly doing the same thing – Lebanon.”
“Our goal was to be in the most dangerous and problematic place all the time, to check the functioning of the system when Hezbollah fires a missile at us,” described David, who served as the company’s deputy commander. “I mean, if the system works it’s fine, but if the system doesn’t work it’s not good.”
Ari Brock, who served as a tank commander, added: “We made a lot of trips in daylight and in front of controlled areas, especially in combat incidents. The intention was to fire a missile at us, who just fired. We were pretty prepared for that, even in coverings. You are less afraid of being exposed in daylight See what happens when a missile is fired at you. “
“On our first two lines in Lebanon they let us play. We would do new things, travel to distant territories. One day we stood in daylight on a spur and waited for a missile. A missile arrived that exploded near the tank caterpillar, but nothing happened to us and the system was not activated,” Brock said. Immediately afterwards he explains that the mission was not to just stand still, but was an operational need “my team also took down two terrorists”.
Despite the shroud of secrecy and full adherence to field security practices, the secret story that ran in southern Lebanon about the special tank company from the Reihan outpost rolled to the ears of the young armored personnel of the time. The stories were about a company with a secret system that eliminates dozens of terrorists and initiates daring operations.
“We did a unique activity from the very activity that was carried out,” said the company’s last commander, Omri Miron. “We changed the concept of the activity a bit – from ambushes of infantry and tanks to skipping ambushes of two pairs of tanks – at unconventional hours and not throughout the night. I felt safe thanks to the people who were with me, and thanks to the professionalism and seriousness we demonstrated in the preparations we made for everything. ”
But throughout the service in southern Lebanon the fighters knew they were putting themselves in danger. “There were situations we knew about missile squads that were about to fire so we stood really exposed. We relied on the system. Lee, as a tank commander, had the knowledge that if we were fired at a missile then ‘purple thunder’ would disrupt it,” Brock said.
“My desire was to immigrate to Lebanon and be in a special place – and I got what I wanted,” added Roi Ofer, who was also a tank commander in the company. “I realized that I was part of an experiment and that the military was testing the effectiveness of the system, but I do not think we felt in the experiment. The goal as we understood it is that we are here to be shot at.”
Ofer expanded: “Feelings change all the time. On the one hand you are on the front of the front, and you are on a tank that does not look normal and you are there to hijack missiles, to test the system. On the other hand, no one wants to be in this situation. Maybe we were kind Of ‘Trial Rabbit’, but that was the only way to test it. “
Colonel Reli Margalit is now recognized as the one who postponed the release to head the Home Front Command epidemiological investigation system. In those years he commanded a surge company. “It was a very special company, built with the idea of an operational experiment in a defensive concept that allows for something more offensive and at no point was there a sense of a guinea pig.”
“We thought it was right and appropriate, and we were also part of the development. We had a lot of other experiments that we were partners in and we saw that they worked,” he added. “Our feeling was that we were saving the country.”
“I do not think we were an experimental rabbit,” Brock also supported. “The truth is that we were never fired upon by a direct-launch missile, so I can not say that the system was successfully tested. We relied on the system.”
After the withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, the military experiment in “purple thunder” was stopped and the special company was disbanded. Throughout the years it operated in the security zone, the company’s tanks were subjected to many mortar stresses and almost all types of fire, except for anti-tank missiles, which the special system was built to protect against.
“Factually, at that time no missiles were fired at us as we expected it to happen,” said Col. Margalit.
– Sucks?
“A bit. There is a very big paradox here. I certainly miss that period, for the fighters there it was a period of self-fulfillment. We were in an experience that is very, very significant and fascinating in Lebanon. We developed all kinds of different techniques and all kinds of norms that were not customary in the security zone. “Somewhat bolder actions, but it was more because of our professionalism.”
The disappointment that the system was not tested in real time is felt by all the fighters we spoke to. “Everyone in our company wanted to see if the system worked or not,” Ofer said. “Everyone in the battle wants to come across, they will shoot at you and put them in. On the other hand, you terribly want not to, and it’s scary murder. These are feelings that come together. There were very scary moments. On the tank. “
More than twenty years after the company’s activity ended, the fighters are trying to explain how they agreed to put themselves in the situation. “You could call it a soldier’s youthful stupidity,” Brock said. “Today it would not have happened, but as a 20-year-old you are sure it will work.”
“It may not be true to say, but I have a kind of regret that the system was not tested under fire,” David said. “It’s a paradox because you seem to have to save your life and your ambition is that they will not fire missiles at you, and if they do shoot they will not hit. But as a fighter with a mission and a goal – I felt a kind of miss.”
After the withdrawal from Lebanon, the then commander of the Northern Command, Gabi Ashkenazi, awarded the company a troop following the activities of its fighters in the months before and during the withdrawal.
The defense establishment responded: The ‘Purple Thunder’ system is an active defense system developed by Mapat, Elta and IMI. After proving the system’s performance in a series of live experiments, the land arm decided to set up the company for an operational examination of the system. After completing the operational examination, and with the departure of the IDF from Lebanon, the ground arm decided to dismantle the systems and transfer them to storage.
The “Purple Thunder” system formed the basis for the capabilities and systems that exist today and placed Israel at the forefront of global technology in dealing with the threat of anti-tank missiles. It should be emphasized that from the outset the company’s SDK was in addition to the existing operational SDK of the IDF Armored Brigades, so that its closure did not affect the SDK of the operational forces required to meet IDF missions.
“As for the claim that the systems experiment led to risk-taking, it will be clarified that the company operated under the same procedures and orders of all the armored companies that operated in the security strip and therefore there was no change in the way it operated in relation to other armored companies.”
Elta and Elbit (the current owners of IMI) declined to comment on the experiment.
Via News1
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