According to a 2023 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 69 percent of Israel’s arms purchases come from US firms, 30% from Germany and 0.9% from Italy. SIPRI’s study ranked Israel as the world’s 15th top weapons importer, taking up 2.1% of all imports, according to globally available data from 2019-2023.
Protest in the UK against Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms company (Photo: Palestine Action)
It also said that Israel was the world’s 9th top weapons exporter, responsible for 2.4% of exports. Three Israeli firms are among top 100 arms-producing and military services companies in the world: Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Israel’s top customer for military supplies is India, which takes a share of 37% of Israeli exports, followed by the Philippines (12%) and the US (8.7%), according to the research.
“At the end of 2023, the USA rapidly delivered thousands of guided bombs and missiles to Israel, but the total volume of Israeli arms imports from the USA in 2023 was almost the same as in 2022. By the end of 2023, pending deliveries of major arms to Israel included 61 combat aircraft from the USA and 4 submarines from Germany,” the SIPRI report read. By guided bombs, it was apparently referring to kits that convert simple bombs into precision weaponry, via systems like the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), made by American companies. Israel does not manufacture such systems itself.
The SIPRI report stated that US sales of fighter jets to Israel over recent decades have played “a major role in Israel’s military actions against Hamas and Hezbollah.” All of the Israeli Air Force’s current manned aircraft are American-made, aside from one helicopter built by France’s Airbus Helicopters.
The full SIPRI’s report:
https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2024-03/fs_2403_at_2023.pdf
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