Starting next summer, commanders of infantry platoons will be equipped with laser rangefinders to help direct artillery fire more accurately. The tiny rangefinder is the size of a matchbox, and its use by IDF platoon commanders will answer a need that has become more acute since the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and Operation Cast Lead in Gaza last winter.

Rangefinders have been in use on the battalion level, but they were not given to the lower ranked commanders in the platoons and battalions.