Podcast: Edward Luttwak on How Israel Develops Advanced Military Technology On Its Own

The distinguished strategist explains how such a small state has managed to become such a major innovator in defense technology.


An Israeli soldier stands on top of a Merkava tank in the Golan Heights on May 5, 2013. MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images.
An Israeli soldier stands on top of a Merkava tank in the Golan Heights on May 5, 2013. MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images.
Observation
Dec. 1 2023
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A weekly podcast, produced in partnership with the Tikvah Fund, offering up the best thinking on Jewish thought and culture.

Podcast: Edward Luttwak

 

Compared to the United States and other great military powers, Israel has been relatively weak, relatively poor, and constantly embattled, without much space or time to incubate sophisticated military technology. Yet it has somehow become an innovator in that field. How is it that Israel has been able to turn its many limitations into assets that have helped it develop some of the most advanced defense technology on the planet?

Edward Luttwak is a distinguished military strategist and historian, who, together with Eitan Shamir, has just published a new book called The Art of Military Innovation: Lessons from the Israel Defense Forces. Luttwak joins Mosaic’s editor Jonathan Silver here to discuss the history of Israeli military-technology innovation, and the political, economic, and cultural factors that make it possible.

More about: IDF, Israel & Zionism, Israeli technology