LOTEM Unit – Technological Innovation in Recent IDF Operation

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As an elite technological-operational unit, LOTEM is one the leading innovation forces in the IDF. The unit is part of the IDF Computer Service Directorate. During Operation Black Belt, which started with the killing of a senior Islamic Jihad commander in mid-November, this unit supplied “a digital-operational response from IDF’s senior command, through the Southern Command and the Home Front Command, to the forces deployed around Gaza Strip. LOTEM is a powerful techno-operational unit which takes part in all IDF’s operational activities”. 

This was declared by Brig. Gen. Omer Dagan, LOTEM’s newly-appointed commander during the change of personnel ceremony. His last role was IDF’s Head of the Digital Transformation Administration. 

Some of the roles fulfilled by LOTEM are the operation of command and control systems. It is a hub for the development of operational software and systems, widespread engineering systems, the operation of communication and computing and securing information systems.

Brig. Gen. Dagan replaces Brig. Gen. Rami Mal’achi, who served in this role for three and a half years and is retiring from the IDF after a 28 year service as a commander, according to an announcement by IDF Spokesperson.

Brig. Gen. Mal’achi said: “The changing enemies and rivals and the development of the combat space require that the IDF continues to accelerate the development of the cyber-digital dimension. The Computer Service Directorate is required to lead the way to a supremacy in the cyberspace and an ultimate, comprehensive digital planning. LOTEM is first and foremost an operational unit responsible for the digital sphere in the IDF, the availability and continuity in the operational networked processes. Even at this moment, hundreds of officers and soldiers from LOTEM serve at the various areas, command cells and command centers from northern Israel to the south, within Israel and outside its boundaries,  in exercises and training from the tactical to the strategic levels. The moto of the unit is “Tomorrow – War”. It is a unit directed at preparedness, availability and continuity, and the supply of relevant products within short time terms”.