<human>:  When did the Israeli army become a professional army?
<bot>: The Israeli army was a professional army since the early 1970s. In the early years of the Israeli state, the army was comprised mostly of volunteers who fought for the state of Israel in the 1948 war of independence. The army was transformed into a professional force in the early 1970s when the Israeli government began to rely on conscription to fill its ranks. The Israeli army is the most powerful military in the Middle East, and it is one of the largest militaries in the world.