Israel has decided to start developing and locally producing heavy bombs, including an alternative to the American 2,000-pound MK-84 bomb. The U.S. halted deliveries of the MK-84 due to concerns that Israel was using them in densely populated areas.
According to a report by Israel Hayom, the Ministry of Defense plans to develop production lines for the bombs that will produce small quantities during peacetime, with the capacity to rapidly increase output during emergencies.
This is reportedly expected to take between two and three years.
Security sources also told the newspaper that the shipment of the heavy 2,000-pound bombs, which was suspended at the beginning of the year, is still frozen but could be released soon.
The news outlet revealed that the U.S. began delivering smaller MK-83 bombs, which had been withheld since before the war began last October.
The U.S. has been transferring large amounts of weapons and munitions to Israel since the start of the war but slowed down deliveries as the tensions between the governments over Israel’s strategy increased.
In June, Reuters reported that the U.S. had sent Israel at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, and 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, among others.
The issue came to a head in June when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lamented: “It’s inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunition.”
While the Biden administration protested, it also acknowledged that at least one shipment comprising thousands of bombs had been withheld. In addition, it was revealed that the United Kingdom had implemented a “secret arms embargo.”
Recent reports that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the Democratic presidential candidate, expressed openness to discussing an arms embargo against Israel were met with shock in Jerusalem.
In response, Israel sped up efforts to increase local production of arms over the past months
Last week, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced it had awarded Elbit Systems a 10-year, $340 million (NIS 1.5 billion) contract to build a state-of-the-art munitions factory. The facility will produce tank ammunition and 155 mm artillery shells, which are in global demand due to the Russia-Ukraine War.
The director-general of Israel’s Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Eyal Zamir, said the “large-scale strategic move [is] designed to ensure the IDF’s war machine continues to advance. We are investing and will continue to invest tens of billions in building infrastructure and capabilities, expanding production lines, establishing new lines, and purchasing inventories to solidify production independence.”
This came on the heels of another announcement by Elbit that it won a two-year, $190 million contract to supply Iron Sting laser-guided and GPS-guided mortar bombs to the Ministry of Defense.
According to Israel Hayom, additional plans include ramping up production of Israeli Merkava tanks and armored vehicles, acquiring another F-15 fighter jet squadron from the U.S., and procuring new Reshef-class corvettes for the Israeli navy.
