SQOM-2: The Israeli Air Force’s air power

The major expense in the budget of any air force is its flight squadrons. A modern fighter squadron costs US $2 billion and consumes some US $100 million annually. The total investment in a fighter squadron over 25 years is some US $5 billion, and the cost of an average-sized air force is on the order of US $100 billion over this period. The Israel Air Force (IAF) estimated that these huge resources were not used properly in training and at times of crisis due to time-consuming manual management procedures at the squadron level and inefficient information updating in IAF headquarters and regions. In 1993, following successful installation and tests in two IAF squadrons, the IAF decided to install the SQOM-2 system in all IAF squadrons. With the system, squadrons executed 25 percent more sorties than squadrons without the system and increased accurate target hits by 17 percent, producing a 146-percent performance improvement. Operational management mistakes decreased by 30 percent and are moving towards zero.