Germany selling Israel two guided missile destroyers

Multimillion dollar arms deal signed by Berlin and Jerusalem will help Israel protect its gas pipelines

By Yifa Yaakov 7 December 2013, 3:18 pm Edit

Yifa Yaakov is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

Illustrative photo of a Tomahawk cruise missile fired from aboard a US destroyer. (Wikimedia Commons)

Germany has signed a multimillion dollar arms deal with Israel, Germany’s Bild newspaper reported Saturday.

Within the framework of the deal, Germany will reportedly supply Israel with two guided missile destroyers, each valued at one billion euros.

The destroyers will be used to protect Israel’s gas pipelines.

In April, Der Spiegel reported that Israel may sell technologically advanced attack drones to the German military.

According to the German weekly, the German defense ministry proposed the purchase several months ago, and German representatives have already held two meetings with IDF officials to discuss the matter.

Germany has in the past expressed interest in developing drone technology along with France, in order to avoid dependency on American or Israeli technology.

Adiv Sterman contributed to this report.