The United States has approved two major Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Israel, valued at £6 billion ($7.41 billion), aimed at bolstering the Israeli Air Force’s operational readiness with advanced missiles and precision-guided munitions.
The first sale involves 3,000 AGM-114 Hellfire Air-to-Ground Missiles, comprising a mix of variants such as R3, F, and K. The package, valued at £520 million ($660 million), includes spare parts, test equipment, software support, and technical assistance.
Lockheed Martin will serve as the primary contractor, with deliveries beginning in 2028.
According to the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the deal will “improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats by improving the ability of the Israeli Air Force to defend Israel’s borders, vital infrastructure, and population centres.”
The second and larger deal, worth £5.3 billion ($6.75 billion), provides Israel with a massive supply of munitions and support systems, including:
- 2,166 GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs (SDB-I)
- 2,800 MK 82 500-pound bomb bodies
- 13,000 JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) guidance kits for MK-84 bombs
- 3,475 JDAM guidance kits for BLU-109 bomb bodies
- 17,475 FMU-152A/B fuzes
Additional non-MDE items include FMU-139 fuzes and other bomb components, with deliveries commencing in 2025. Boeing and L3Harris are among the contractors supplying key components.
The DSCA said the sale will “strengthen Israel’s homeland defence and serve as a deterrent to regional threats,” noting that Israel already operates similar weapons, ensuring their smooth integration into its arsenal.
The DSCA highlighted that the proposed sales are vital to U.S. national interests, reaffirming its commitment to maintaining Israel’s self-defence capabilities. The agency assured that the sale “will not alter the basic military balance in the region.”
No additional U.S. personnel will be deployed to Israel, aside from support visits during initial phases of training. Although the costs reflect maximum initial estimates, final amounts will be determined by further negotiations and actual requirements.
stocking up for the West Bank?
Surely, The new president seems very enthusiastic for land opportunities, a couple of billion and now they hold onto some stellar beach front property and mineral rights for the ocean that seems to hold sizeable oil and resource reserves.
But anyways, good the hostages are getting free.
Starting at 2028? Just shows you the huge delays that exist in arms exports, even relatively simple ammunition takes years to arrive
Slightly off topic, but has anyone seen the new series of channel 4’s “Top Gun: Inside the RAF”?
First episode of new series has a bit on the operation to shoot down the Iranian drones and missiles fired at Israel. I know we deployed extra aircraft to Cyprus to support the effort, but the programme suggested only two Typhoons were involved and they shot down 3 drones using ASRAAM. Apparently they expended all their ASRAAMs which I suspect means at least one missed, as it’s unlikey each was carrying less than 2.
Not sure why they didn’t use AMRAAMS. Too expensive, or ineffective? And if they knew they could only use ASRAAMS in advance, why didn’t they go into theatre with more?
Not much can be gleaned from this info, but we are used to working with scraps in this field!
Everyone, especially old Donald, warns Iran over nukes. So, Israel will have to make do without these neat bombs for now and use whatever is available