Israeli Air Force Official: Without U.S. Aid, Israel Couldn't Fight Gaza Beyond a Few Months

The Israel Air Force is crafting a recommendation to increase production of bombs, missiles and other ammunition at home, in an attempt to reduce its dependence on other countries, especially the United States, a senior air force officer says.

This is the air force's stance on the back of the seven-front war all over the Middle East that has been underway for 11 months. Such a change would take a few years to implement – and an extra tens of billions of shekels in funding – because most of the air force's equipment in the war so far was bought from American companies using U.S. military aid.

If the recommendations go through, the Israeli defense industry would greatly increase its manufacturing capacity and have to hire more workers, mostly in engineering and other technical fields. These employees would be joining the country's large defense contractors – Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel Military Industries and Elbit Systems. But dozens of smaller suppliers would also benefit.