The United States has approved a sale of M107 155mm projectiles and related equipment to Israel for an estimated cost of $147.5 million.
Here’s the notice of the possible sale from the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency:
“The Secretary of State has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Israel of M107 155mm projectiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $147.5 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.
The Government of Israel has requested 155mm ancillaries (fuzes, primers, and charges) that will be added to previously implemented cases. This amendment will increase the total case value above notification thresholds and thus requires notification of the entire case. The original FMS cases, valued at $96.51 million, included four thousand seven hundred ninety-two (4,792) rounds of M107 155mm artillery ammunition (MDE); fiftytwo thousand two hundred twenty-nine (52,229) rounds of M795 155mm artillery ammunition (non-MDE); and thirty thousand (30,000) M4 propelling charges (non-MDE), along with publications; associated technical documentation; and logistics support services, which have subsequently been delivered. The new estimated total cost is $147.5 million.
The Secretary of State has determined and provided detailed justification to Congress that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel of the above defense articles and services in the national security interests of the United States, thereby waiving the Congressional review requirements under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended.
The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self defense capability. This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives.
Israel will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense. Israel will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces. The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region. It is incumbent on all countries to employ munitions consistent with international humanitarian law.
The 155mm artillery ammunition will be provided from U.S. Army stock. There are no offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale. Implementation of this proposed sale will not require the assignment of any additional U.S. Government or contractor representatives to Israel.
There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale. The description and dollar value are for the highest estimated quantity and dollar value based on initial requirements. Actual dollar value will be lower depending on final requirements, budget authority, and signed sales agreement(s), if and when concluded.”
Peanuts.
Battle of Vittorio Veneto 1st World War
From 24 to 31 October alone, the Italian artillery fired 2,446,000 shells.
Yet somehow no NATO country Sans US has more than a few tens of thousands in inventory..
Admittedly urban warfare is not an area of expertise, but believe 155 mm rounds will have limited utility in Gazan conflict at this point. However, Israel could be restocking in prep for cross-border exchanges w/ Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. 🤔
BTW, quick calc yields an approximate cost of $2682 per 155 mm round. Any thoughts re validity of cost estimate?
It’s nice that the state department puts the these rounds will be used in conjunction with international law in the statement. I was worried the Israeli government might use them to shell civilians back to the Stone Age but that little addendum has me convinced.
Maybe you should tell that to Hamas.and UN.
I think you will find they are both already aware.
Only in Arab language they tell it.
Hamas tells in Arabic that Palestinians civilians : women, children, older should shed blood to motivate the combatants…UN knows it very well and reinforces it.
Jim wrote:
The subject matter at hand is a inflammatory one , where misinformation is peddled in which to garner a emotive response rather than a logical one. So here is how I see the entire conflict (2 parts)
So Gaza, it makes me proud to see people able to protest in the Uk regards issues they hold dear. We see Climate change, Anti-Nuke, pro-EU, Vegan and even demanding the right to be allowed into female safe spaces as a male rapist. We may not all agree with the subject at hand, but these people have that right. However, of late, that right to peaceful protest has been hijacked by a mindset where the people protesting see themselves as holier-than-thou and rather than using actual facts as the cornerstone of their argument, they instead resort to raw emotion
So with Gaza we are fed a steady diet of misinformation such as:
1) Gaza is under a crippling siege, where nothing gets in or out. But hang on if we look at the facts, we find plenty of evidence which states overwise, supermarkets, shopping malls, fast food joints, all packed to the rafters with goods. Not only that, but it transpired that on the 7th of Oct, there were over 450 people from the Uk visiting Gaza on their Hols. Including The Scottish First Ministers in-laws., and I haven’t even got round to the amount of weaponry Hamas managed to acquire and yet despite all the evidence to the contrary all we hear is crippling siege
2) Israel occupies Gaza, no it didn’t (past tense) it handed over Gaza to the Pals in 2005 and evicted 10s of thousands of Jews at gunpoint to do so, since 2006, Hamas has controlled Gaza and that it achieved by the bullet, the bomb and roof tops. Hamas was ruling body, it ran the media, the police, and organised many attacks on Israel from inside Gaza. If Israel actually occupied Gaza, wouldn’t Hamas be killing Israelis inside Gaza rather than outside it.
3) Israel has been carrying out a genocide since 1948, In 1947 the population of Gaza was between 60 to 80K, today well a couple of months ago it was over 2 million, some genocide.
4) Israel is guilty of ethnic cleansing resulting in the Nakba (around 750K pals from 1948 to 1967) yet nobody mentions that when it comes to ethnic cleansing, the Arabs started that ball rolling years before the formation of Israel, which saw around 900K Jews kicked out of the lands of their birth in the ME, with the majority settling in Israel. So large was the influx that Israel built huge refugee camps (Ma’abarot) which in 1951 alone saw 150K displaced Jews from Iraq tip up, UNRWA when it was formed was for displaced Jews and Palestinians and yet by 1963, Israel informed UNRWA it no longer needed its help as it had assimilated all the people in the camps. Now contrast that with the lot of the Palestinians who have been kept in the gutter by their so called fellow Islamic brothers across the ME.
5) Israel is an apartheid state , is it, each and every Israeli citizen has equal rights be they Jewish, Muslim or Christian . Its why out of 120 Knesset seats 10 are filled with Arabs. Its why whilst serving in the IDF is compulsory for Jews it isn’t for Muslims and yet in 2020 600 Muslims volunteered to join the IDF. In 2016 Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced six years in prison, the judge who did so was an Arab. Now unlike most people here, I have actually visited the Holyland and I had less issues there, than I did in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. My sister (a Muslim) experienced the same issues when she and her husband visited the region.
As I stated above, the pro Palestine crowd use emotive tropes in which to elicit a knee jerk reaction, anybody who doesn’t dance to the tune they play is shouted out or cancelled and that is exactly what we have been seeing on the streets of the Uk these past 2 months, where the currency of rage found predominately in the lands of most third world migrants who have relocated here, is gaining prominence as the way to pay it forward.
Part 2:
So regards that currency of rage, why wasn’t it in use when:
1) The Taliban raged across Afghasntan during the late 90s, and out of 22 Massacres carried out by the Taliban during that time (As recorded by the UN) the siege of Mazar-i-Sharif stands out were in Aug 1998 10K men, women and children were put to the sword their crime they were Shia Muslims
2) The Second Sudanese civil war (1983 to 2005) 2 million dead
3) Darfur genocide (2003- current day) between 80 to 400K dead, 3 million forced to relocate and 4000 people killed in Oct 2023
4) North Yemen Civil War (1962-1970) 200K killed
5) East and West Pakistan civil war (1971) 3 million killed
6) Iran/Iraq war I million killed
7) Algerian Civil War (1992-2002) 150K killed
Ok some may say that most of the above aren’t current (well Sudan is, as is Yemen as is Afghasntan)
So what about how in Sept Azerbaijan initiated a military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh an area it now controlled resulting in the ethnic cleansing of virtually the entire Armenia Christian population of around 120K. How about how Pakistan has kicked out 1.7 million Afghans
Yet whilst people remain silent on all of the above (which are all Islamic in nature, primarily on other Muslims) they have no problems becoming enraged regards how Israel reacted to an invasion of its territory with the cold blooded murder of around 1200 people and god knows how many others injured , of late the sheer barbarity of that day is coming out with women found shot between the legs, others with spikes and nail driven into their limbs, how would any country react. Like Turkey which after losing 12 men in Iraq the other day, launched 71 airstrike across Iraq and Syria including bombing a Red Cross Hospital on the 27th in the city of Kobani. (did the BBC even report that?)
So that ever increasing figure of a death toll, its promulgated by Hamas no less, have you noticed they only state Palestinians followed by women and children, never ‘Gunmen’ which is strange as Israel has counted the bodies of dead terrorists and found they killed around 1500 on the 7th and another 1500 on the 8th. So that’s 3000 before they even went into Gaza, but yet nobody in the media (and defiantly not Hamas) mentions that little statistic
But it gets better, currently after almost 3 months of war, (around 90 days) we are at 21K Palestinians killed but heres something Hamas murdered in 1 morning 1200 people, lets say they were allowed to rampage across Israel no questions asked , they would have arrived at 21K after 9 days (8.75 actually) so if they could murder death kill so many people using knives, RPGs and assault weapons , how come its taken Israel over 10 times as long (if we use that Hamas metric?) I mean they have launched a full blown invasion, using Planes, UAVs, artillery and thousands of soldiers on the ground and yet they have only killed 21k people. (Note, I am not saying 20K is a low figure far from it,) how is that possible.
George knocked out an article regards misinformation and from what we are seeing a lot of it comes from the pro Palestine crowd who of late have decided to target anybody whom they deem is in league with Israel be it MPs, school teachers, councils , banks or businesses all of which is used to target , isolate and intimate Jews (look at the flack Steven Fry received) we are now seeing physical attacks on Jewish people in the Uk (In France they are murdered) are you happy for this to take place, where the way of life which is woven into the DNA of people from the 3rd world becomes the currency of politics in the Uk. and the irony, the very people carrying out the targeting of Jews in the Uk are the very same ones who try and tell me that we (quite rightly) can’t condemn the entire Islamic population for the actions of a few.
That’s my pennies worth.
Great post, as always.
A colleague of mine converted to Islam. Asked him about why they get so enraged about Israel and not many of the other areas where muslims die. Simple answer, it’s because they are Jewish. Anti-semitism plays a massive part in the conversion classes.
Today, as I walked to the shops, I watched two children, probably brothers from the way they interacted, the elder maybe 14 the younger 10, ripping a handful of small posters from a subway wall. The elder, when he had finished, tore the paper into pieces, which he threw to the ground and spat on, his face momentarily contorted with hatred. He then grabbed his brother and they ran off.
I was curious to know what had angered the boy so much, so I went over to see if I could tell from the remnants what the posters had been about, and I just about could. They were pictures of kidnapped hostages, presumably those held in Gaza. So freedom of speech is not a priority for UK Palestinians. Winning the information war is far higher up the list.
I can endorse that the currency of rage on our streets is very real.
I hate the pro Palestinian crowd, I hate Hamas and the Israeli government, but it doesn’t change the fact that civilians are being slaughtered by a “liberal” western government and they are using US weapons to do it. Look at our ROE in Syria then look at the carpet bombing in Gaza. Bomber Harris would be proud.
Jim wrote:
Thank you for substantiating my point about the use of emotive language, especially with the addition of the British in Syria, who primarily targeted ISIS via the use of PGMs and not civilians for that you may wish to look at Assad, Russia, Iran, Hizballah, the many terrorist groups and even Turkey , but of course all those can be placed at the back of the queue when “Britain’ can be inserted into the equation and of course the icing on the cake was you use of ‘Bomber Harris’ Damn its so easy to judge the actions of yesteryear with the morals of today.
I’m not sure how I substantiated your point, I’m not sure what your point is.
Are you in favour of the Israeli government’s target list in Gaza then?
Anything else left for if we need it? If we can give so much away why don’t we have enough of everything else?
We can try and kill off the palistians just like Hitler tried to kill off the Jews. But this time we have joined the Nazis and will fight Russia as well.
No mi
Eh?
2.5 grand per shot! Bloody hell! No wonder the US and its arms business do all they can to ensure wars drag on with no resolution.
I wonder if the fuses listed is the M1156 Precision Guidance Kit which does to Artillery what the JDAM did for dumb bombs. I quote:
Thanks for providing a possible rationale for at least a portion of the cost estimate. 👌😊
Not certain whether this funding would come from the baseline $3+B in military aid provided by US to Israel annually, or the proposed $14+B in the proposed defense supplemental bill being debated currently. 🤔
Coming from us stocks. Does Israel not make its own artillery shells?
What has become clear is that operating and using kit for war that depends on other nations willingness to supply it is a huge issue.
We see it with Saudi typhoon sale, Swiss ammunition etc etc.
the U.K. needs to make sure it can make the essential items needed to keep going and where foreign systems are used that enough of them are available and spares are there. General Ammunition/missiles is something that needs to be made in house.
The UK Government should not have signalled its support for Israel by projecting that country’s flag above No 10 Downing Street. We have nothing to gain from it, apart from an increased likelihood of Islamist terrorist attacks upon a vulnerable civilian population.
Neither the Israelis or Palestinians have any respect for or liking of us, and we as a country have no influence upon how either of them behave, or any real understanding of their beliefs or view of the world. Unlike Great Britain, these are not countries founded upon Christian values such as reconciliation, redemption and forgiveness. Hence the war between Jew and Muslim will never end as long as the extreme elements exist within both religions.
When the IDF invaded Lebanon in 1982 on Operation ‘Peace for Galilee’ (great choice of name, guys!) our Prime Minister at the time didn’t take a side. But then her government and its opposition would have had many WWII and National Service veterans in them, who knew that one shouldn’t touch the Middle East with a barge pole.
The Yanks are welcome to the wretched place.
James wrote:
“”The UK Government should not have signalled its support for Israel by projecting that country’s flag above No 10 Downing Street. “”
The Israeli flag was flown over 10 Downing St on the evening of the 8th of Oct in a show of solidarity for the victims of the Hamas attack the day before, the Uk did similar after 9/11, numerous attacks in France, (Nice , Paris) The attack at Brussels airport , The Ukraine flag last Feb, and many other instances, if you feel doing so opens up the Uk to acts of terrorism, might want to look up 7/7, Westminster attacks, Manchester Arena and the many more attacks which have failed
James wrote:
“”When the IDF invaded Lebanon in 1982 on Operation ‘Peace for Galilee’ (great choice of name, guys!) our Prime Minister at the time didn’t take a side. But then her government and its opposition would have had many WWII and National Service veterans in them, who knew that one shouldn’t touch the Middle East with a barge pole.””
Israel invaded Lebanon on the 6th of June 1982. At the time the Uk was embroiled in the Falkland war which had started on the 2nd of April 1982 and ended on the 14th June 1982. Maybe there lies the reason why the Uk didn’t get embroiled in the region as did the US and French
Lest we forget, the fledgling IDF carried out a terrorist campaign in Palestine aimed at the British soldiers garrisoned there in the late 1940s. No gratitude was shown to our nation for defeating Nazi Germany, liberating the concentration camps or securing a Middle Eastern homeland to which Jewish people could emigrate. Also the European Convention on Human Rights, in order to protect citizens from mistreatment by the state.
I’ll accept the Israeli flag was displayed over No 10 in order to show sympathy for those killed on 7/10, but senior political and religious figures from all sides and faiths in the UK should get together and call for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations, even though it can’t and won’t happen: both the Israelis and Hamas want the complete extermination of each other’s homelands, so let them get on with it.
Flying either an Israeli or Palestinian flag in the UK means the same thing: that you are Hamas’ ‘useful idiot.’
Hamas conducted their operation within Israel by following all the Principles of War, in particular those of Security and Surprise. They have Selected and Maintained the Aim since that raid upon Israeli territory, which is to turn all the Arabic countries against Israel, and by extension reignite Islamist terror campaigns within the Western free world.
The IDF are also creating the latest Middle Eastern refugee crisis: if Egypt won’t accept the couple of million people who will have no homes to return to, then we must expect them to claim refuge in the only part of the world they can, which is Europe, with all that will entail. Thanks for that, Israel.
The Israelis are as much to blame for this latest war as the Palestinians: Jewish immigrants and settlers are pushing into the West Bank area in the same way as American settlers pushed into the Indian territory, so the Palestinians are responding in the same way, by conducting well-armed raids marked by atrocities.
Israel has a right to defend herself, as all nations do, but it would have helped if she had indeed ‘defended herself’ along the Gaza border: minimum manning of defensive positions and happy thoughts won’t do the job when a couple of million people on the other side of the fence desire your complete destruction. Obstacles need to be covered by fire and observation and fully manned with a mobile reserve and artillery on call, as well as being constantly patrolled by heavily armed units between the defensive strongpoints.
Nothing less will do, as we in Europe shall find out after the Russo-Ukranian war reaches its conclusion, and we find ourselves next on the list.
That’s an awful lot of ‘big bullets’. I wonder who Israel are going to turn on next?