The totality of sea-based (fire from beyond
the horizon) and land-based (surface-to-surface missiles) threats
confronting Israel combined with its lack of strategic territorial depth,
enhance the significance of strategic maritime depth, as the navy provides
the dual advantages of mobility (especially with missile boats) and
durability (especially with submarines). However, at present, Israeli
naval superiority (its domination of the seas and the technological gap in
its favor) in the eastern Mediterranean Basin is in danger as a result of
the augmentation of the Arab navies, endangering Israel’s plans to utilize
its strategic marine depth for a “second strike” capacity which would
upgrade Israel’s deterrence capability.
The strategic infrastructure of the navy
today, based on the Sa’ar 5 missile boats and the Dolphin submarines,
enables the navy to carry out its traditional missions of protecting the
country’s shores and standard sailing routes, along with attack and
intimidation capabilities on our enemies’ navies and docks, and on the
other hand, to develop a strategy in which the navy would constitute the
“long arm” of the IDF in the era of surface-to-surface missiles, in
support or in place of air and ground forces.
The 2002 budget allotment to the navy did
not increase, indicating that the decision to integrate the navy into the
strategic deterrence alignment has not yet been taken by the defense
establishment. The need to find deterrent solutions stems from the
assessment that over the coming decade, Iran and perhaps Iraq, will
acquire the ballistic nuclear capability to strike targets in Israel,
forcing the country’s leaders to make decisive determinations which will
bring about a reversal in the IDF battle philosophy and the place and the
role of the naval force within that philosophy.
In this article, we will attempt to analyze
the relative strength of the navy vis-ŕ-vis the Arab navies, the
structure of the Israeli naval force, the capabilities necessary in the
naval battlefield of the future and the strategic threats confronting the
State of Israel which mandate the full integration of the navy in the
context of a new strategic approach in response to these threats.
