The Israeli Defense Ministry issued a two-part tender requesting bids to supply the Israel Defense Forces with Israeli-made M4 assault rifles.
According to a report by IsraelDefense, the tender was issued this past June and was structured in such a way that two different companies can fill the order.
The tender was issued in two lots: one for 14,000 M4 assault rifles and one for 6,000 of the Israeli-made weapons.
None of the offered rifles have yet been tested, and a decision on which companies will supply the weapons is not expected until the end of the year.
At least three companies are expected to compete for the order: Israel Weapons Industries (IWI) offering its Arad rifle; Emtan offering its MZ-4 rifle; and Silver Shadow offering the Gilboa rifle.
Up to this point, Israel has purchased most of its small arms — such as the M16 and M4 rifles, and sniper rifles — from the United States.
Thanks, But No Thanks: Israel Replacing US Assault Rifles with Locally Made Arms
But US-supplied arms come with a heavy price: when an American administration disagrees with Israeli government war goals and/or methods, US presidents can and have chosen to slow-walk the supply of previously ordered and badly needed weapons while the IDF is fighting enemies trying to annihilate the Jewish State.
Israel’s decision to rely more heavily on domestically-produced small arms was reached before the start of the October 7th war, however, and followed a US decision to nearly eliminate its arms stockpile in Israel in order to send the weapons to Ukraine for its battle against Russia.
Just a few months later, President Joe Biden withheld delivery to Israel of a shipment of 2,000-lb “bunker buster” bombs after the IDF proceeded to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah despite a White House order to stay out of the city.
Israel Defense Forces have since uncovered more than 30 Hamas smuggling terror tunnels in the city and its adjacent Philadelphi Corridor, including some that were multi-level complexes and others high and wide enough for trucks to drive through with their “imports”.
At least 25 tunnels have stretched from Rafah, beneath the Gaza border right into Egypt itself, where smugglers were able to deliver advanced Iranian weapons, cash, military personnel and even luxury vehicles.
In April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Israel’s defense industry to boost local production of weapons and ammunition.
During a meeting with Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron, Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel needs to be “much more independent in the production capacity of the weapons we need.”
Netanyahu emphasized that Israel needs to be “immune from external pressures because we need to make our own decisions.”
Israel Has Spent NIS 30b on Locally Produced Weapons
According to a report by the Globes business news outlet, the Defense Ministry’s Department of Production and Procurement (DOPP) has spent NIS 30 billion on local procurement since the outbreak of the war with Hamas on October 7.
At least NIS 16.4 billion was spent on defense equipment, ammunition and weapons; NIS 100 million has been spent on drones, and NIS 920 million spent on computer equipment. Most of the production was carried out by Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
