IDF delaying pilot program for female tank troops to Nov. 2025

In a response to a High Court petition, the IDF says it is delaying a planned pilot program for female soldiers to serve in the Armored Corps.

Currently, female soldiers can serve in tanks in the IDF’s Border Defense Corps, as part of an all-female tank company in the Caracal mixed-gender light infantry battalion, which operates along the Egyptian border — not in wars or in fighting deep behind enemy lines.

The program in the Armored Corps was meant to start sometime this year. The military, in its response to a petition asking it to open additional roles to female recruits, says that the pilot will begin in November 2025 at the earliest.

The IDF claims that it does not have enough tanks right now for the pilot program, as it requires them for operations in the war.

“During the course of the war, many tanks were damaged, which are disabled at this stage and are not used for combat or training, and it is not expected that new tanks will soon be introduced into the corps,” the IDF claims in its response.

Several senior officers in armored units fighting in the Gaza Strip have previously told The Times of Israel that very few tanks had been disabled during the fighting, and damaged vehicles are quickly repaired and sent back into the battlefield.