TEL AVIV — Israeli military leaders plan to greatly expand the nation’s elite commando force to accommodate intensifying demand for stealthy, surgical, strategic missions far from Israel’s borders.
In interviews here, officers and experts said Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff, is mulling several options for augmenting the special operations forces under his command, including creation of an airborne insertion and extraction unit built upon a squadron of U.S. V-22 Ospreys.
The prospective new unit or, alternatively, a strengthened Shaldag (Kingfisher) airborne commando unit, would ultimately be integrated into the IDF’s planned Depth Corps, a joint special operations command expected to become operational this year.
