Israeli air force official: Without U.S. aid, Israel couldn't fight Gaza beyond 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.
The air force’s stance echoes one by Israel in 1967. After the Six-Day War, French President Charles de Gaulle imposed an arms embargo on Israel, which included tanks, missile boats and Mirage jets.
Israel then switched over its dependence on a foreign power to the United States, which provides the air force with all of its fighter planes and some of its bombs, missiles and intelligence equipment – on top of the development of joint weapons systems for all three layers of air defense.
The senior air force official told Haaretz that without the Americans’ supply of weapons to the Israel Defense Forces, especially the air force, Israel would have had a hard time sustaining its war for more than a few months.
