The U.S. Department of Defense has announced a series of new contracts with Israeli defense companies and their U.S. subsidiaries, with a combined value of more than $127 million, to support the needs of the U.S. Navy.
The largest contract in this round was awarded to Stark Aerospace, a wholly owned subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) operating out of Mississippi, which received a significant increase of approximately $114 million. Under the agreement, the Navy exercised options to expand an existing contract for the production of Mark 25 Mod 1 vertical launch canisters, which are integrated into the Mark 41 Vertical Launching System, a core component of U.S. Navy operational vessels.
According to the U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command, which is serving as the contracting agency, most of the work under the Stark Aerospace contract will be carried out in Columbus, Mississippi, with additional manufacturing sites in Oregon, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Work is expected to be completed by February 2030. The contract is funded through a combination of Navy weapons procurement budgets from different fiscal years and funding from other customers, with a small portion of the funding set to expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Separately, the Navy’s Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support division in Philadelphia awarded Elbit Systems C4I and Cyber Systems in Holon an exclusive contract worth approximately $13.5 million. The five-year, firm-fixed-price requirements contract covers the repair and maintenance of four different configurations of survival radios used by U.S. Navy pilots. The contract was awarded on a sole-source basis under U.S. military procurement authorities after Elbit was the only company to submit a proposal.
Work on Elbit’s radios is expected to continue through September 2031, with 60% of the work to be performed in Talladega, Alabama, and the remaining 40% at the company’s facilities in Holon. According to the Pentagon announcement, no funds were obligated at the time of the award. Funding will instead be provided through future task orders drawn from the Navy’s working-capital funds, which do not have an expiration date.
The two contracts underscore the continued involvement of Israeli defense companies in the U.S. defense supply chain. By combining local manufacturing in the United States with engineering and technological capabilities from Israel, the companies are expanding their role as suppliers to some of the most advanced combat and rescue systems operated by the U.S. armed forces.