Israel moves to strengthen defense production amid boycott calls

JERUSALEM — Israel has reached an agreement with Elbit Systems on an NIS 815 million — approximately $215 million in U.S. currency — contract to supply the country’s military with 120mm “Iron Sting” mortars, the Israeli Ministry of Defense and Elbit Systems announced Monday.

The mortar munitions are already in use by the IDF’s ground forces in the ongoing “Iron Swords” war in Gaza and along its northern border against the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, respectively.

Israel’s agreement with the Haifa-based Elbit Systems comes as part of a push to strengthen production independence, the Israeli Ministry of Defense noted.

Incentivizing this effort are public calls to boycott the sale of ammunition and ammunition parts to Israel due to its war in Gaza. The new contract also follows a delay of ammunition shipments to Israel from the U.S. coinciding with Israel’s entry into Rafah.

The Iron Sting munition is a precision-guided 120mm mortar designed to accurately target and destroy objectives, using both immune GPS and laser guidance technology.

The munition has a range of up to 10 kilometers — or, 6.2 miles — and has an estimated loading time of approximately 15 seconds. It features a multi-mode fuze with point detonation, point detonation delay and proximity sensor operating modes.

“In response to the outbreak of war, the IMoD Directorate of Defense Procurement has accelerated the acquisition of cutting-edge armaments,” the Israeli Defense Ministry stated.

On Oct. 7, the Gaza-based militant group Hamas launched a fatal attack on Israel and took people hostage, with the Israeli government in turn launching a war against the organization in the southern territory.

Tzally Greenberg is the Israel correspondent for Defense News. He has experience reporting on economic affairs as well as defense and cyber companies.

耶路撒冷——以色列国防部和埃尔比特系统公司周一宣布，以色列已与埃尔比特系统公司达成一项价值 8.15 亿新谢克尔（约合 2.15 亿美元）的合同，向该国军队供应 120 毫米“铁刺”迫击炮。

以色列国防军地面部队已经在加沙地带和北部边境正在进行的“铁剑”战争中，使用迫击炮弹药分别对抗哈马斯和真主党武装组织。

以色列国防部指出，以色列与总部位于海法的埃尔比特系统公司达成的协议，是以色列加强生产独立性举措的一部分。

促使这一努力的原因是公众呼吁抵制向以色列出售弹药及弹药零部件，以抗议其在加沙的战争。此外，这份新合同的签订也正值美国向以色列运送弹药延迟之际，而延迟的时间恰逢以色列进入拉法。

“铁刺”弹药是一种精确制导的120毫米迫击炮弹，采用抗干扰的GPS和激光制导技术，旨在精确瞄准并摧毁目标。

该弹药射程可达10公里（6.2英里），装填时间约为15秒。它采用多模式引信，具有瞬时引爆、瞬时延时引爆和近炸引信三种工作模式。

以色列国防部表示：“为应对战争爆发，以色列国防部国防采购局加快了尖端武器的采购。”

10月7日，总部位于加沙的武装组织哈马斯对以色列发动致命袭击并劫持人质，以色列政府随即对该组织在南部领土发动战争。

扎利·格林伯格是《防务新闻》的以色列记者。他拥有丰富的经济事务以及国防和网络安全公司报道经验。