Israeli Cabinet OKs $9B US Arms Deal; Boeing KC-46As Top List

TEL AVIV: A huge arms deal with the U.S has moved one step ahead as the Israeli cabinet approved the budget for $9 billion for the purchase of US-made aircraft and special weapon systems.

The ministers finally approved the spending of $9 billion out of the $38 billion of the current Foreign Military Financing agreement the US has with Israel. The US State Department approved a possible sale of up to eight KC-46As and related equipment to Israel for an estimated cost of $2.4 billion last March, marking the first time that Washington has allowed Jerusalem to buy new tankers.

Israeli sources told BD that the KC-46A tanker is Israel’s most urgent need to replace the current modified 707’s used by the Israeli Air Force. The country has asked the U.S to give it priority in the production line to assure a delivery as early as possible. The answer, according to one source, was not encouraging but may have helped push the cabinet’s approval of the budget: “First, make the order, and then we will consider.”

The problem for Israel is that early slots in the production line can only be given up to the point the aircraft goes from “international “configuration to the dedicated U.S Air Force line.

The $9 billion is aimed at purchasing the KC-46As, a new heavy helicopter to replace the Israeli air force CH-53, the purchase of V-22s, all this in addition to more F-35s and F-15 EXs. The estimated price of the KC-46As will be $1 billion.

The V-22 will also be given priority. Defense Minister Benny Gantz personally pressed for the   the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey to be included in the deal. The VTOL aircraft is high on the wish list of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) Depth Command.

The new heavy helicopters will carry a price tag of about $2 billion. The V-22 will cost about $1 billion.

“The IAF needs 22-24 heavy helicopters, but the plan to purchase the V-22 will have an effect on this number,” a source here said.

The $9 billion will also enable the IAF to acquire more F-35s and the new version of the F-15, dubbed by the IAF as the F-15IA (Israeli advanced). The additional F-35s will carry a price tag of about $2 billion. The F-15AI will cost $2 billion.

All these are rough estimates based on the cost of the platform, the changes the IAF wants to be made in the U.S, plus the infrastructure and spares.

On top of all that, Israel wishes to buy some special weapon systems, which are priced at $1 billion. The money will be spent on “filling the stocks of the IAF in special bombs and missiles. These arsenals have shrunk in recent years as a result of the hundreds of attacks the IAF has performed against Iranian-related targets in Syria and ‘other places,'” one source said.

After the cabinet approval, the IAF will make its detailed recommendations. Then the Defense Ministry and its director-general will review those recommendations, which will be submitted for final approval by the procurement ministerial committee.It is expected that the IAF will now submit its detailed acquisition numbers and priorities so that the orders in the relevant companies can be formalized.