Israel ditches US-made precision weapon, initiates development of homegrown alternative with Rafael, Elbit

Israel is moving to develop its own alternative to the US-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), seeking to reduce its dependence on American supplies of precision-guided weapons amid lessons from its prolonged wars.The Israeli programme, involving Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Elbit Systems, is expected to enter serial production in 2027, according to defence express.According to the European security & defense publication, which cited unnamed sources in the Israeli defence industry, serial production of Israel’s locally developed JDAM analogue is expected to begin in summer 2027. The programme is part of a wider push to expand domestic production of precision air-to-ground weapons and reduce Israel’s dependence on foreign suppliers.The push for an indigenous system gained urgency in May 2024, when the United States paused a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel amid concerns over their potential use in densely populated areas of Rafah in Gaza. Washington also reviewed other planned weapons transfers, including JDAM kits, raising concerns in Israel over its dependence on US supplies during a prolonged conflict.The US had supplied Israel with tens of thousands of tonnes of weapons and ammunition after the October 2023 Hamas attack, including large quantities of aerial bombs and other precision munitions. Defence Express reported that more than 50,000 tonnes of US weaponry worth about $13.4 billion were delivered between October 2023 and August 2024.The US has been a central pillar of Israel’s military capability for decades, providing funding, weapons, aircraft and missile-defence assistance. That relationship has expanded substantially over time, with Washington committing $38 billion in military assistance to Israel under the 2016 10-year memorandum covering 2019 to 2028. The package includes $33 billion in Foreign Military Financing and $5 billion for missile-defence programmes.This long-standing dependence on American weapons has also extended to Israel’s air-to-ground strike capability, including JDAM guidance kits, which allow Israeli fighter aircraft to turn conventional bombs into precision-guided weapons.JDAM stands for Joint Direct Attack Munition. It is a US-developed guidance kit that converts conventional, unguided bombs into precision-guided weapons.JDAM primarily uses GPS-assisted inertial navigation to guide the bomb after it is released from an aircraft. This gives fighter aircraft the ability to accurately strike fixed targets from significant distances without needing to release the bomb directly over the target.For Israel, this capability is especially important because its F-15, F-16 and F-35 fleets can employ JDAM-family weapons, allowing the Israeli Air Force to use American guidance kits with conventional bomb bodies.