Israeli ministers have accepted a $2.4 billion buy of 10 to fifteen Lockheed Martin CH-53 helicopters utilizing support cash from the USA.
Members of the Knesset’s committee on army procurement accepted the acquisition Monday after lower than an hour of deliberation, Haaretz reported.
The acquisition — the primary of its type below the federal government of Prime Minister Neftali Bennett — follows a Protection Ministry selection of the Sikorsky CH-53K over Boeing’s CH-47 “Chinook” as its main heavy-lift helicopter earlier this yr. Protection Minister Benny Gantz mentioned following the choice in February that the CH-53K suits with the Israeli air drive’s operational necessities and “the challenges of the altering battlefield.”
The Israel army goals to exchange its growing older Sikorsky CH-53 Yasur helicopters, which date again to the late Nineteen Sixties, with the brand new CH-53K within the subsequent few years. Israel relied on the Yasur for heavy elevate operations throughout its 1969 battle with Egypt and the 1973 Yom Kippur Warfare, however its fleet has been grounded at the least twice over the previous decade amid a handful of crashes and mechanical problems.
Two Yasurs collided in 1997 and one other crashed throughout a coaching train in Romania in 2010.
IDF Chief of Workers Aviv Kochavi is overseeing Israel’s shift to a brand new military doctrine, often called Momentum, as regional adversary Iran has quickly superior its drone, ballistic and cruise missile capabilities in recent times.
Beneath Momentum, Israel has additionally sought to exchange its growing older fleet of mid-air refueling tankers with Boeing’s KC-46s and so as to add a third F-35 squadron.
