The IDF Chief of Staff decided Sunday morning to proceed to the next stage in the examination process of integrating women into armored units and tanks.
"The contribution of the women in the IDF is tremendous," said IDF spokeperson Brigadier General Silberman, adding that wherever women can be integrated, they will be.
In recent weeks there has been a series of discussions on the integration of women into tanks to test the ability of women to be integrated into armored units
The spokespeople pointed to the "real potential" of integrating women into tanks in light of the fact that in the previous pilot, 15 women started and 10 completed the course.
The spokesperson emphasized that there are some gaps during training, including in shell-loading practice. These tasks requires physical fitness that women do not have. However, the spokesperson stated that they will learn to adapt to the activity.
In order to complete the gathering of the required data for making the decision, the Chief of the General Staff concluded to progress onto the next level in the process of examining the integration of female tank crew members in border defense missions.
The next level of the examination will be based on the following principles:
1. Defining relevant parameters for the selection process, based on the insights from the pilot.
2. Extending the number of participants and the duration of the operational section.
3. A female-tailored training program highlighting medicine, nutrition and physical training.
4. Gender-based tanks (i.e the gender of tank-crew members would be identical)
5. During the operational section, the tank crews will operate under the Border Defense Array in the 80th Division.
6. This next level will begin during the year of 2020.
At the end of the training and operational phases, a situation assessment will be held and new decisions will be made. All decisions made will take into account only professional and operational aspects, and will be aligned with the IDF's needs.