The Defense Ministry views the project as an operational initiative due to its direct impact on the training and preparation of all IDF Ground Forces combat units for future challenges.
Six training brigade bases will be built for the 7th, 188th, 401st, Kfir, Nahal, and Givati Brigades across Israel, incorporating lessons learned from October 7, a senior Defense Ministry official told Walla on Sunday.
The Defense Ministry views the project as an operational initiative because it directly affects the training and preparation of all IDF Ground Forces combat units for future challenges and extreme scenarios.
“The entire training and instruction environment will change following the establishment of the new training bases, and this will be reflected starting from the basic needs of soldiers, such as the type of beds and hot water in the living quarters, to training classrooms integrated with new technology and simulators,” the senior official explained.
He added, “A rapid access approach for tanks and Namer armored personnel carriers to the training areas has been incorporated in order to streamline the training process.”
According to the official, the 7th Brigade training base in northern Israel, covering 20,000 square meters, including a bus parking area, is in advanced stages of construction and will receive its first group of recruits in August 2028.
IDF soldiers and Merkava Tank in southern Israel, on the border with Gaza, November 11, 2024. (credit: MICHAEL GILADI/FLASH90)
Where will the IDF’s new training bases be?
The 188th Brigade training base in the Jordan Valley, at the site currently used by soldiers from the haredi Hasmonean Brigade who will move elsewhere, is also under construction and is expected to be delivered in August 2027.
The Kfir Brigade training base in the Jordan Valley is in advanced stages of construction, with its new sections expected to be delivered to the IDF in 2028.
The Nahal Brigade training base near Tel Arad is currently in the planning stage, with construction expected to begin in the coming months as part of a five-year project. The work will be carried out as part of a redevelopment and reconstruction process.
Next to the Shivta training base of the IDF Artillery Corps, the 401st Brigade training base will be established, with construction expected to begin in 2027.
The construction of the Givati Brigade training base, which has faced project delays for more than a decade and a half, is currently in the planning stage and is expected to be completed around 2031 to 2032.
Base planning includes a focus on the IDF’s future
According to the senior Defense Ministry engineering official, the planning of all the new training bases includes a focus on future needs. For example, at the armored brigade bases, covered tank maintenance centers will be built adjacent to the living quarters, rather than several kilometers away as they were in the past.
Buses will be able to reach close to the living quarters in order to reduce the time soldiers spend entering and leaving the bases. Similar planning will apply to access routes to dining halls and living quarters, reducing time spent moving between different areas.
New urban warfare training facilities for tanks will also be built. In the medical field, specialist clinics will be established at all of the training bases, including physiotherapy clinics.
Additional emphasis was placed on tank simulators, which will allow training to be more precise and enable soldiers to practice even during periods of extreme heat in the field.
The official explained that the large scale of facilities at each training base will give commanders greater flexibility when planning daily schedules.
Company-level living quarters planned
The official also described the planned company-level living quarters.
“This is a two-story building that includes a kitchenette, a club, bathrooms and showers at the required capacity and not with the overcrowding of the past, with shading, a nearby company area, and nearby fitness facilities,” he said.
The dining hall complex, synagogue, and all other public buildings will be concentrated in a single area close to the company compounds.
“Recruits will not have to walk for hours and hours to the dining hall. Everything will be close to them,” the Defense Ministry official said.
“In the company building, they will have a washing machine, a lounge area, a refrigerator for meals and food and drinks when the dining halls are unavailable, open 24/7 and located inside the living quarters. There is also investment in the sleeping quarters, including outlets for the various mobile devices, shading, and accessible showers inside the building.”
The official also emphasized that thought was given to the location of the new training bases and their surrounding security components based on lessons learned from October 7 and Hamas’s breaches of IDF bases.
The planning includes infrastructure protection, the types of walls and barriers used, protected spaces, perimeter fencing, and measures designed to ensure operational continuity.