Germany Israeli government wants to expand its own weapons production
As a lesson from the recent wars in the Middle East and subsequent arms restrictions imposed by allied states, Israel's government wants to make the country's own weapons industry more independent by investing billions.
25.12.2025, 06:03
SDA
According to media reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a graduation ceremony for newly trained air force pilots that a sum of 350 billion shekels (93 billion euros) had been earmarked for this over the next decade. In his speech, according to the Times of Israel, he also referred to Germany, which, like other countries, wants to buy "more and more (weapons) systems from Israel".
The German government had temporarily suspended its arms exports to the Jewish state as a result of the devastating Gaza war with thousands of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip - which led to considerable tensions with Tel Aviv. Other European countries and even the USA, Israel's most important partner, also imposed various restrictions, much to Netanyahu's annoyance. According to the right-wing conservative head of government, the new arms program is due to the goal of "reducing our dependence on third countries, even friends".
Last week, Germany and Israel signed a contract to expand the Israeli Arrow 3 missile defense system supplied to the Bundeswehr, which is intended to protect Germany from the threat of Russian missile attacks. According to Israeli sources, the total value of the deal - including the purchase of the basic system - amounts to the equivalent of around 5.7 billion euros. This makes it the largest arms deal in the history of the Jewish state. Conversely, Germany has also been supplying major weapons systems to Israel for decades.
