After eight months of fighting Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in Gaza, Israel is now gearing up to do the same with Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon.
And the White House is still slow-walking a shipment of bombs needed by the Israel Defense Forces.
For months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been insisting on the need for Israel to locally develop and manufacture its own arms to prevent this kind of bottleneck.
Apparently the Defense Ministry has been working on the issue. According to a report by the Globes business news outlet, the ministry’s Department of Production and Procurement (DOPP) has spent NIS 30 billion on local procurement since the outbreak of the war with Hamas on October 7.
There is a critical need for large amounts and independence in weapons for ground forces — four times the amount of domestic production before the war started — according to the report.
More than half of the money was spent on defense equipment, ammunition and weapons, according to the report, which says ministry director-general General (res) Eyal Zamir has issued instructions to base as much procurement as possible on domestically-produced supplies.
At least NIS 16.4 billion was spent on defense equipment, ammunition and weapons; NIS 100 million has been spent on drones, and NIS 920 million spent on computer equipment. Most of the production was carried out by Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
In addition to weaponry, at least some of the products needed are required to meet the needs of the 300,000 reservists who were called up for active duty, including uniforms, tents, accommodation equipment and other items.
