IDF: Israel’s Apache deal not off, but at risk as NIS 15 billion delay drags on

Yet another deadline was missed last Thursday, but some of the leaks in Hebrew media seem to be exaggerating the consequences of the blown deadlines.

With questions raised by various leaks on Sunday about whether the Finance Ministry's delay of NIS 15 billion has already broken a deal signed between Israel and the US for Apache helicopters, The Jerusalem Post was told by an IDF spokesperson that the deal is not yet off, though it may be delayed.

In January, the US State Department approved a possible $3.8 billion foreign military sale to Israel of AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and related equipment. This was expected to lead to buying 30 helicopters, with a first round of 12 coming first.

Israeli defense officials had been pushing for this as a critical step toward modernizing the air force's combat helicopter fleet, including being more ready to use a larger fleet to prevent future potential ground invasions, such as occurred with Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Generally speaking, the air force was viewed as ineffective that day, but the helicopter fleet was one of the few bright spots, at least contributing some firepower to reducing the number of Hamas invaders in the early hours of the day.

Despite the positive move in January, delays due to the ministry have already led to missed deadlines relating to the helicopters, including in July.

Apache deals expected to continue, with delays

Yet another deadline was missed last Thursday.

All of that said, some of the leaks in Hebrew media seem to be exaggerating the consequences of the blown deadlines.

An IDF spokesperson said that all expectations were that the deals were still on, but simply delayed.

Delays are not free.

Often after a delay, Israel and other countries must pay steeper fees because any deal that is not locked in is subject to inflation, which invariably increases the purchase price over time.

In addition, delays by Israel in purchasing additional F-15s and F-35s earlier this decade led to Jerusalem falling in line behind additional countries that made purchase orders, meaning that the delay eventually was much larger than simply the time Israel waited to make its decision.

If originally, the first round of 12 helicopters was expected to start arriving in 2030, the new arrival date could be pushed back by more than the already eight-month delay by Israel in moving forward.

Highly unpredictable variables, offensive weapons sales at risk

There are also highly unpredictable variables, such as whether, beyond the presidency of US President Donald Trump, which runs until January 2029, Washington will continue to sell Israel any offensive weapons it wishes.

On Thursday, Zamir blasted the ministry for what he said were politicized and unnecessary fights over budget and side financial issues.

An IDF spokesperson said that there were three debates going on between the IDF and the ministry.

The first is that the IDF said that the ministry was due to have transferred NIS 15 billion weeks ago as part of a prior deal and that the funding has been delayed.

Second, another NIS 25 billion is due to be transferred imminently, but now the IDF is worried that this funding will be delayed like the earlier NIS 15 billion.

Third, the sides are stuck not only on funding, which nominally was already agreed to, but on future multi-year funding negotiation issues.

Currently, estimates have the IDF defense budget up to NIS 160 billion per year, around double what it was pre-October 7.

An IDF spokesperson clarified that the NIS 40 billion under debate is part of the already-agreed NIS 160 billion number, and not related to new funding requests.

The ministry responded that the IDF should be more judicious in spending its ballooning budget.

In the past, the ministry has also accused the IDF of a mix of waste, a lack of carefulness in certain areas of spending, and some areas of unpoliced fraud.

The IDF in the past has acknowledged some errors in these areas, but mostly said that three nearly constant years of war have meant that its expanded budget cannot be viewed based on past budgets, but only based on the number of fronts Israel has constantly had to fight or be ready to fight on.