Israel to purchase tens of thousands of local assault rifles for IDF infantry brigades
Israel to purchase tens of thousands of local assault rifles for IDF infantry brigades
The Ministry of Defense will soon publish a tender for the purchase of tens of thousands of assault rifles to be used by the infantry brigades and standby units. The tender, valued at tens of millions of shekels, comes following a shortage of rifles in the IDF and with the intention of increasing the combat brigades in the coming years
The director of procurement at the Ministry of Defense will soon publish a tender for the purchase of tens of thousands of Israeli-made assault rifles to be used by the various infantry brigades and standby units. The tender, valued at tens of millions of shekels, is the largest that the Ministry of Defense has held for the purchase of rifles made in Israel. This will be done in cooperation and coordination with the Planning Directorate and the Ground Forces of the IDF.
The weapons that will be purchased are assault rifles from the AR15 family, similar to the M4 (flat-top). Today there are two major Israeli manufacturers who are expected to participate in the tender - IWI and EMTAN Karmiel. Both companies have weapon models that match the tender, IWI has the Arad and EMTAN Karmiel has the MZ series. Another Israeli arms manufacturer that may enter the tender is the Silver Shadow company. The Ministry of Defense plans to select several winners to share in the production of the next generation of the IDF's assault rifles.
Although several different manufacturers will produce the weapons, the weapons that will be created will be almost identical and the aim is that the soldiers will not notice the differences between the various weapons. The M4 rifles that are used by the IDF today were not produced by one manufacturer, and some were even converted to M4 from old M16s.
The IDF intends to keep the Tavor rifles in use as well, but these will gradually be phased out of use by the infantry brigades and transferred to other forces. Before the outbreak of the war, the Ministry of Defense ordered about 2,800 Tavor type weapons. Also, the Ministry of Defense intends to continue to stock up on US-made weapons in the coming months, and this is against the background of an immediate shortage of weapons. The Ministry of Defense does not want to give a number, but it is claimed that "many thousands" of assault rifles have been purchased since the outbreak of the war.
The new tender corresponds with a broader policy that seeks to reduce Israel's dependence on the import of weapons and armaments and to ensure partial "production independence" for Israel. The tender is expected to have a significant impact on the export of Israeli weapons, because the IDF's purchase of tens of thousands of weapons from a certain manufacturer constitutes a seal of quality that will later be leveraged for additional sales abroad.
