Israel is a major arms exporter, but its army also relies heavily on imported weapons, particularly aircraft, guided bombs, and missiles. The Israeli army's need for military equipment and ammunition has increased since the outbreak of war, after the unprecedented Hamas October 7 attack, and the Israeli response by invading the Gaza Strip.
The United States is by far the largest arms supplier to Israel, and Washington has accelerated arms deliveries to its ally in recent months. It is difficult to determine the amount of American weapons Israel has received, but Washington has sent tens of thousands of weapons to Israel since the Hamas attack. So, the US aid that was sent to Israel, from October 7 to December 29 last year, included 52,229 M795 155 mm artillery shells, 30,000 M4 Howitzer artillery shells, 4,792 M107 155 mm artillery shells, and 13,981 M830A1 120 mm tank shells.
The weapons that the United States has delivered to Israel since October 7 include air defense systems, precision-guided munitions, artillery shells, tank shells, small arms, Hellfire missiles used by drones, 30 mm cannon ammunition, PVS-14 shoulder-fired missiles, and night vision devices.
The United States also granted Israel access to US military stocks located in Israel to meet the immediate needs of the Israeli army. A US official said that the ammunition Israel recently requested from those stockpiles included bombs weighing between 250 and 2,000 pounds (a pound equals 0.453 kilograms), many of which were bombs weighing 500 pounds.
Israel is the first country in the world to operate the American F-35 fighter, which is considered the most technologically advanced fighter aircraft ever. It received the first F-35 aircraft before the outbreak of the attack on October 7, 2023. Israel is currently purchasing 75 aircraft of this type, receiving 36 of them last year and paying for them with American assistance.
Germany is the second largest exporter of weapons to Israel, and these weapons include anti-tank weapons, ammunition, warships, tank engines, missiles, and others.
The German government issued individual licenses approved in 2023 - mostly in the second half of the year and especially in the first weeks of the October 7 attack - including a large number of export permits for wheeled and tracked military vehicles (65 licenses), and military technology (57 licenses). ), military electronics (29 licenses), torpedoes, missiles, missiles, explosive devices and other explosive devices (17 licenses) and a smaller amount of ammunition, explosives and fuel, in addition to large-caliber weapons. Small firearms are also included in export licenses, and other weapons export licenses. In addition, Germany licensed 3,000 portable anti-tank weapons, 500,000 rounds of ammunition for machine guns, semi-automatic machine guns, rifles, and other types of ammunition.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in 2023, Germany was the second largest supplier of the “major conventional arms” category to Israel, exporting 47 percent of Israel’s total imports of this category of weapons, after the United States at 53 percent. This percentage includes the delivery of German Saar 6 missile corvettes, in addition to missiles and engines for tanks and other armored vehicles.
Since 2003, Germany has consistently ranked second - and sometimes first - in Israel's share of major conventional arms imports. In the period between 2019 and 2023, Germany's share of the main conventional weapons imported by Israel was about 30 percent, after the United States at 69 percent.
Italy is the third largest arms exporter to Israel, but it represents only 0.9 percent of Israeli imports between 2019 and 2023. These imports included helicopters and naval artillery. According to the British BBC network, Italian sales of weapons and ammunition amounted to 13.7 million euro last year.
United Kingdom (Britain) exports of military goods to Israel are “relatively small,” according to the UK government, amounting to only 42 million pounds ($53 million) in 2022.
It is estimated that the United Kingdom has granted arms export licenses to Israel worth a total of 574 million pounds ($727 million), most of which is for components used in American-made warplanes that Israel owns.
Why are American weapons exports to Israel the most important?
The United States provides approximately $3.8 billion annually in military aid to Israel, an amount that has remained clearly stable over the past decade, in contrast to the rising and declining levels of American assistance provided to other allies.
In 2016, America and Israel signed the third 10-year memorandum of understanding on military aid, which stipulates that the United States will provide $38 billion in aid until 2028, including $33 billion in foreign military financing grants, in addition to $5 billion for defense.
After the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, American military aid to its ally increased, most notably after the US House of Representatives’ approval of massive multi-billion-dollar aid to Israel on April 20, which includes providing $4 billion to the Israeli missile defense systems “Iron Dome” and “David’s Sling,” and $1.2 billion for the “Iron Beam” defense system, which confronts short-range missiles and mortar shells.
The US package also included $4.4 billion to renew defense materials and services provided to Israel, $3.5 billion for Israel to purchase advanced weapons systems and other items through the Foreign Military Financing Program, and $801.4 million to purchase ammunition.