Is Israel Ready To Rely on Domestic Arms Production?
Amid US arms delays, Israel is bolstering domestic weapons production to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, ensuring readiness for future conflicts by ramping up the manufacturing of key munitions and expanding weapons storage
Israel appears to be making strides to reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers for some weapons and ammunition after the United States delayed critical transfers during the height of its war against Hamas. With other countries halting or threatening to cease arms sales altogether, Israel is pushing to secure its defense capabilities independently.
This week, the US State Department announced that the United States approved the sale of $20 billion in military equipment. However, deliveries won’t start for several years. This follows the White House’s decision to freeze certain weapons shipments to Israel, including aerial munitions requested by the Israeli Air Force.
The freeze has reportedly driven Israel to turn to domestic suppliers. According to a report by the Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom, Israel has already committed to building and sustaining long-term production capabilities for one-ton aerial bombs, similar to the US-made MK-84.
Alongside the US freeze, Canada announced it would halt all future weapons sales to Israel, and the new UK government is considering a similar embargo.
“We have to consider being more independent,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We already see growing capabilities within Israel and more money being invested in Israeli [weapons and ammunition] to reduce the country’s dependence on other countries.”
Amidror told The Media Line, for example, that Israel already produces most of its mortars and is now accelerating those efforts.
“The more we will be independent, the easier it will be to deal with crises in the future,” Amidror said.
Earlier this week, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) released its financial statements for the first half of 2024. The company showed a 78% increase in net income in H1 2024 to about $294 million compared to $165 during the same period the year before. IAI said it was the most profitable half-year the company has ever had.
Moreover, IAI said it increased its gross profit to $554 million in H1 2024 compared to $456 million in the corresponding period of last year. Finally, the company’s sales in H1 2023 grew to about $2,852 million, an increase of about 12%.
“The company’s financial results have been constantly rising in recent years and reflect significant and wide-ranging activities both with Israel’s defense establishment and with our customers abroad, and seen in the signing of large-scale contracts that have greatly increased the company’s backlog of orders,” said IAI’s president and CEO, Boaz Levy. “IAI sees supreme value in maintaining the State of Israel’s technological leadership; in light of this necessity, we have, in the current quarter, increased investment in the research and development of advanced technologies to respond to the demands of combat warriors on the ground and the development of the company’s future products.
“Since the outbreak of the current war, the company’s systems have been playing a significant role in operations in all arenas: in the air, at sea, on land, and in space,” Levy continued. “This is thanks to IAI’s men and women employees who are currently working ever harder.”
IAI previously told The Media Line that domestic sales within Israel drove a significant portion of the sales increase.
The IAI release came shortly after an announcement by Israel’s Elbit Systems, which said it would now supply the IDF with artillery and tank shells previously sourced from abroad, including 120 mm and 155 mm shells.
Elbit said the contract is worth $190 million and specifically includes supplying the Israeli Ministry of Defense with its Iron Sting laser and GPS-guided mortar munition over the next two years.
“Following the combat experience our cutting-edge guided mortar munition has accumulated, this contract further cements our position as a market leader in precision-guided solutions,” said Elbit General Manager Yehuda Vered. “With the rise of military conflicts in urban environments, armed forces worldwide demand accurate technologies that minimize collateral damage. Elbit Systems’ Iron Sting meets this critical need.”
But can Israel ever be completely weapons-independent?
Israeli engineer and analyst Uzi Rubin scoffed at the question: “Weapons independent?” he asked rhetorically. “Name one country that is weapons independent.”
Similarly, Arieh Herzog, former director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization, told The Media Line that the Western world is “quite used to having international traffic, and we have to support one another. There is really no need to be independent.”
Amidror explained that there are three categories of weapons in manufacturing and production. The first are weapons invented by Israel, which Israel manufactures from A to Z.
“There are Israeli innovations, Israeli Intellectual property,” Amidror said. “We know how to produce them, and we do.”
The second category is those weapons that are not Israeli I.P.—the I.P. is purchased from outside the country—but Israel manufactures the weapons in Israel.
Finally, the third category includes weapons that Israel neither invented nor can produce.
In some cases, Amidror said, Israel could produce the weapons technically, but it would be economically nonviable.
“Some weapons are more expensive to make here, and some are more expensive to buy abroad,” Rubin added. “Weapons are like any other product.”
The government has reassured the public that the US weapons freeze hasn’t impacted its operations in Gaza or against Hezbollah in the North. However, as Amidror noted, Israel didn’t anticipate a 10-month war. A key takeaway from this conflict is the need to expand Israel’s weapons storage. This would allow the country to stockpile essential arms during peacetime, ensuring readiness for future escalations.
