History
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the military equipment in the IDF was very diverse and inconsistent. This was due to the severe limitation in obtaining war material (the British Mandate and the Arab Embargo). During the 1950s, the IDF began the process of standardization, relying primarily on French military equipment.
During the Six Day War, the military cooperation with France ceased (the French Weapons Embargo of 1967) and Israel began to rely on American weaponry and on local research and developments. During the 1980s and 1990s, the IDF increased its supplies of American arms, armor and aircraft, aiming for technological superiority over Arab countries, toward "a smaller, smarter army."
The reliance on locally manufactured military equipment has also greatly increased. Today, the overwhelming majority of Israel's military equipment is either manufactured in the United States (and often modified in Israeli workshops), or is developed and manufactured locally, with an increasing emphasis on advanced technology, including aerospace and electronics.
Read more about this topic: Military Equipment Of Israel
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Spain is an overflow of sombreness ... a strong and threatening tide of history meets you at the frontier.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“The history is always the same the product is always different and the history interests more than the product. More, that is, more. Yes. But if the product was not different the history which is the same would not be more interesting.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“Three million of such stones would be needed before the work was done. Three million stones of an average weight of 5,000 pounds, every stone cut precisely to fit into its destined place in the great pyramid. From the quarries they pulled the stones across the desert to the banks of the Nile. Never in the history of the world had so great a task been performed. Their faith gave them strength, and their joy gave them song.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)