Military equipment of Israel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Military equipment of Israel includes a wide array of arms, tanks, planes, cannons, armored vehicles. Many of these are purchased overseas. Up until the Six-Day War, the Israel Defense Forces' principal supplier was France, since then the United States government and defense companies. Much of the military equipment undergoes improvements in Israeli workshops.

Uziel Gal's Uzi submachine gun, the most recognizable IMI-manufactured weapon
Uziel Gal's Uzi submachine gun, the most recognizable IMI-manufactured weapon

Contents

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the military equipment in the IDF was very diverse and inconsistent. This was due to the severe limitation in obtaining war materiel (the British Mandate and the Arab Embargo). During the 1950’s, the IDF began the process of standardization, relying primarily on French military equipment.

During the Six Day War, the military cooperation with France ceased (the French Weapons Embargo of 1967) and Israel began to rely on American weaponry and on local research and developments. During the 1980s and 1990s, the IDF increased its supplies of American arms, armor, and aircraft, aiming for technological superiority over Arab countries, toward "a smaller, smarter army."

The reliance on locally manufactured military equipment has also greatly increased. Today, the overwhelming majority of Israel's military equipment is either manufactured in the United States (and often modified in Israeli workshops), or is developed and manufactured locally, with an increasing emphasis on advanced technology, including aerospace and electronics.

Some of the more notable military equipment developed locally have been:

Below are some of the IDF's main active service light arms (less than 20 mm), the year of active service and effective range are in parentheses.

  • M82 (1997; 1,800 meters)
  • M24 Sniper Weapon System (1997; 800 meters)
  • SR-25 (2001; 500 meters)
  • Ruger 10/22 Suppressed (1987; 100 meters)
  • Mauser- SP66 (.308 cal.)

Below are the four active service tanks (all have a crew of four). Maximum cruise speed and weapons are in parentheses (armor detail remains largely classified). These are all Merkava variants. The last tanks to have been retired from active service were the Magach 6 and 7 in 2004.

  • Merkava Mk2 (50 km/h; 105 mm cannon, mortar, and three machine guns)
  • Merkava Mk3 (55 km/h; 120 mm cannon, mortar, and three machine guns)
  • Merkava Mk3B (55 km/h; 120 mm cannon, mortar, and three machine guns)
  • Merkava Mk4 (65 km/h; 120 mm cannon, mortar, and three machine guns)

Bellow are the IDF's active service aircraft. The year of service, maximum speed, range, and armament or passengers are in parentheses.

  • A-4 Skyhawk (1967; 1,170 km/h; 3,540 km; two 30 mm cannons, missiles, and bombs)
  • F-15 Eagle (1976; Mach 2.5; 3,450 km; one 20 mm cannon, missiles, and bombs)
  • F-16 Falcon (1980; over Mach 2; 3,200 km; one 20 mm cannon, missiles, and bombs)
  • F-15I (1998; Mach 2.5; 4,450 km; one 20 mm cannon, missiles, and bombs)
  • F-16I (2004; over Mach 2; 4,200 km; one 20 mm cannon, missiles, and bombs)

  • AH-1 Cobra (1976; 230 km/h; 510 km; one 20 mm cannnon; eight TOW missiles, rockets)
  • AH-64 Apache (1990; 365 km/h; 690 km; one 30 mm cannon; sixteen hellfire missiles)
  • AH-64D Apache (2005; 365 km/h; 690 km; one 30 mm cannon; sixteen hellfire-II missiles)

Below are the IDF's active service watercrafts. The year of service, speed, full load displacement, and crew members, are in parentheses.

  • Saar 4 (1970s; 32 kt; 450 tons; 45 crew members)
  • Saar 4.5 (1980s; 31 kt; 488 tons; 53 crew members)
  • Saar 5 (1990s; 33 kt; 1,227 tons; 64 crew members)

  • Dabur (1970s; 19 kt; 39 tons; 9 crew members)
  • Dvorah (1988; 36 kt; 47 tons 10 crew members)
  • Shaldag (1989; ?; 50 kt; ?)
  • Super Dvorah Mk2 (1996; 46 kt; 54 tons; 10 crew members)
  • Nachshol (1997; 40 kt; 12 tons; 5 crew members)
  • Super Dvorah Mk3 (2004; 47 kt; 54 tons; 10 crew members)

  • Gal (early 1970s; 17 kt underwater, 11 kt surface; 600 tons underwater, 420 tons surface; 32 crew members) [It is being decommissioned]
  • Dolphin (1992; 20 kt underwater, 11 kt surface; 1,900 tons underwater, 1,640 tons surface; 30 crew members)

Below are the IDF's active service artillery. Year of service, caliber, speed, maximum rate of fire, and maximum range are in parentheses.

  • M109 howitzer (three models, 1990-2004; 155 mm; 56 km/h; 4 rounds per minute, 6 in the Paladin; 29 km)


Israel Defense Forces
Arms, Commands, Branches, Corps
Arms: Navy (Sea Arm) | Air Force (Air and Space Arm) | Ground Forces (GOC Army Headquarters)
Commands: Northern | Central | Southern | Home Front
Branches: General Staff | Operations | Intelligence | Planning | Human Resources | Logistics, Medical, & Centers | Computer Service
Consultants & attachés to the General Staff: Financial advisor | Womens' Affairs advisor | Rabbinate | Military Advocate General | Court of Appeals | Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories
IDF corps
Ground forces corps: Infantry | Armor | Artillery | Engineering | Field Intelligence
Infantry brigades: Paratroopers | Golani | Nahal | Givati | Kfir | Bislmach
Combat support & rear-line corps: Ordnance | Medical | Intelligence | C4I | Education | Adjutant | Logistics | Military Police | General
IDF insignia
Berets, Units symbols and Uniform | Ranks | Decorations
Additional Information
History of the Israel Defense Forces | Ministry of Defense | Military equipment | Israel Defense Forces checkpoint | Israeli military prison
See Also
Security Forces | Mossad | Shabak | Police | Border Police | Intelligence Community | Security Council | Foreign & Defense Committee
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.