The Israeli The Technological and Logistics Directorate (Hebrew: אט"ל, romanized: ATAL, abbreviation of אגף הטכנולוגיה והלוגיסטיקה, Agaf HaTeknologia VeHaLogistika, lit. 'Technological and Logistics Directorate') is a directorate in the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, responsible for its logistics responses and tasks, and in particular: the building and maintenance of military bases, maintaining a medical infrastructure during peacetime and times of war and emergencies, caring for the nutrition of soldiers, purchasing and distributing spare parts and equipment, storing and conveying weapons and ammunition, as well as for the fuel and maintenance of the managerial and military vehicle fleet of the IDF.
The Directorate is the third manifestation of the Technological and Logistics Directorate, overseeing the Logistics Corps, which saw many of its units and much of its authority transferred to the Ground Forces. During an emergency, the directorate is also responsible for the deployment of most non-combat reserve units. As of 2024, it is headed by Aluf Michel Yanko.
History
The directorate was established in February 1948 under the name Quartermasters Directorate (Hebrew: אג"א, romanized: AGA, abbreviation of אגף אפסנאות, Agaf Afsa'na'ot, lit. 'Ordnance Directorate'). In the early period of the IDF, logistics and ordnance were highly centralized, with the General Staff maintaining almost complete control over the allocation of resources — including transport, fuel, construction materials, and food — to battalions and brigades under strict rationing. During the 1948 War of Independence, as combat formations organized and expanded, logistical systems developed within them to meet operational needs, with the General Staff-level ordnance system consolidating gradually thereafter.
In its early years, the Quartermasters Directorate drew heavily on the expertise of soldiers who were veterans of the British Army and the Jewish Brigade. The structure of the directorate, along with the broader logistics system, was modeled closely on the British Army, with forms and terminology likewise adopted from British military practice.
During the first decade of Israeli statehood, the directorate was organized into two departments: the Organization Department, responsible for setting standards, procurement plans, oversight, and procedures, including the training system; and the Maintenance Department, responsible for operating the logistics system through the Supply Corps — later renamed the Maintenance Corps and today known as the Logistics Corps — as well as the Ordnance and Equipment Corps and the Technicians Corps. In 1950, the Ordnance and Equipment Corps was dissolved; its equipment functions were transferred to the Supply Corps, while its ordnance functions passed to the Technicians Corps, which was renamed the Ordnance Corps in 1953. In 1951, the Supply and Transport Corps was split into separate Supply and Transport Corps; responsibility for transport was subsequently returned to the Supply Corps in 1953.
A special General Staff planning team established in late 1952, tasked with reviewing the IDF's force structure and formulating a new order of battle, debated the division of authority between AGA, its subordinate corps, and the Ministry of Defense. A proposal to centralize all procurement within the Ministry of Defense was ultimately rejected in favor of the principle, associated with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, that the IDF determines its own requirements and priorities, with the Ministry of Defense responsible for fulfilling them within budgetary constraints.
In 2016, the directorate was merged with the Ground Forces Command. The insignia used by the directorate until that year had been designed during a reorganization initiated by Chief of Staff Dan Halutz. It was the first directorate insignia in the IDF to have been designed by a serving soldier — Mital Zilberman, a graphic designer within the unit — rather than by an external contractor.
Commanders
NameTenureYosef AvidarJuly 1947 – July 1949Monty GreenJuly 1949 – March 1950Ephraim Ben-ArtziMarch 1950 – March 1952Zvi AyalonMarch 1952 – March 1954Meir IlanMarch 1954 – March 1960Moshe GorenMarch 1960 – March 1964Mattityahu PeledMarch 1964 – March 1968Amos HorevMarch 1968 – March 1972Nehemiah CainMarch 1972 – October 1974Aryeh LeviOctober 1974 – October 1978Yohanan GurOctober 1978 – October 1983Haim ErezOctober 1983 – October 1986Menahem EinanOctober 1986 – January 1989Ilan BiranJanuary 1989 – April 1992Shalom HagaiApril 1992 – April 1995Ami SagisApril 1995 – April 1998Aharon Ze'evi-FarkashApril 1998 – April 2001Udi AdamApril 2001 – April 2005Avi MizrahiApril 2005 – December 2007Dan BitonDecember 2007 – March 2012Kobi BarakMarch 2012 – July 2016Aharon HalivaJuly 2016 – May 2018Yitzhak TurgemanMay 2018 – November 2021Michel YankoNovember 2021 – September 2025Rami AbudrahamSeptember 2025 –
References
External links
Official site