Israel to buy new Corvettes, ‘hundreds’ of JLTVs

JERSUALEM — The Israeli Ministry of Defense has approved a major new procurement deal to acquire five new corvettes for the Israeli navy and “hundreds” of new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles for the ground forces.

Israel has not specified how much each deal is worth, but in a statement described the two packages as a “multi-billion Shekel” expenditure.

The Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023 has led to the fast-tracking of a number of procurement deals, but this most recent announcement is the first to come from the Nagel Committee, a commission stood up in August. Chaired by Prof. Jacob Nagel, the commission was established by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the goal of “formulating recommendations on the force building needs and the security budget in the coming decade.”

The Israel Military Procurement Ministerial Committee approved the two acquisitions. They will now be submitted to the Knesset’s Joint Committee for the Defense Budget; however, the government did not give a timeline for when the Knesset submission and subsequent vote will happen

The new “next generation” advanced missile ships will be built by Israel Shipyards, and dubbed the Reshef-class, named after one of the older Sa’ar 4 class ships that have since been retired. The new Reshef-class frigates will replace the Sa’ar 4.5-class missile boats which Israel has used since the 1980s. These eight ships, which were launched between 1981 to 2003, are set to be decommissioned.

Plans for the new Reshef class ships go back several years. Naval News reported in July 2023 that the ships will include a main gun at the bow, as well as the new C-Dome air defense system, which is the naval version of Iron Dome.

The Israeli navy has undergone a major expansion in the last decade, with four new Sa’ar 6 naval ships that began to be commissioned in 2022, as well as new submarines. The Israeli navy currently has four active Sa’ar 6 ships, which first saw action in the recent war against Hamas in Gaza. It also has three Sa’ar 5 corvettes as well as eight of the Sa’ar 4.5. Meanwhile, the IDF held a naming ceremony for its sixth submarine in Germany on Nov. 12. The Israeli navy was also bolstered by two new landing craft that began arriving in 2023.

The overall cost of the five ships was not revealed. However, the Sa’ar 6 cost more than $400 million each.

Israel Shipyards built the original Reshef class Sa’ar 4 back in the 1960s. The company describes itself as the “first in the Western world to design and build a fast-attack missile boat. … At that time, it was a new concept to use relatively small, fast missile-equipped craft to meet threats in the naval arena.”

The Shipyards currently offer a 72 meter and 80 meter version of the Sa’ar series of ships, which they call Sa’ar -72 and Sa’ar-80 respectively. A report in 2022 said the Sa’ar 80 would be the export version of the new Reshef class; the firm that year said that “The S80 will be the flagship of the Israel Shipyards for the next decades and she will serve the Israeli Navy and many other navies around the world.”

In addition to the ships, Israel is procuring hundreds of new JLTVs. Oshkosh is the current procurer on the JLTV, but AM General in 2023 won the right to produce the US Army’s next-generation of vehicles. Which company’s version Israeli would receive could depend on when an order is officially placed.

“These armored combat mobility vehicles will be supplied to the IDF’s maneuvering forces in the coming years,” the Defense Ministry noted in a post on social media. The vehicles, which first entered service in the US in 2019, will bolster Israel’s ground forces by giving new options in place of aging Humvees, which have been used widely in the 2024 war.

In December 2023 Oshkosh Defense said it would fulfill two Israeli orders for a total of seventy-five of the 4X4 JLTVs. In 2020 Rafael Advanced Defense Systems showcased its Spike LR on a JLTV in Slovenia and Elbit has equipped weapon stations on JLTVs for Montenegro. The CH-53K which Israel is also acquiring can lift JLTVs, a point Lockheed Martin highlighted in a 2018 Hebrew statement about the heavy lifter.