JERUSALEM, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Ministry of Defense announced Sunday that it will purchase 1.5 billion shekels (about 424 million U.S. dollars) worth of weaponry to protect its offshore natural gas fields.
"The Procurement Administration at the Ministry of Defense signed a deal worth of 1.5 billion shekels for the procurement of combat systems for the defense of economic water," the ministry said in a statement.
The purchases would be made by the end of 2017 and include interceptors, electronic warfare, command and control systems, communications, and navigation systems, according to the statement.
Most of the systems are planned to be bought from local Israeli companies, said the ministry.
The new weaponry would be installed on four Sa'ar-6 warships that Israel bought from Germany in 2015 to secure the gas fields.
Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman said in the statement that the deals are part of the Israeli army's project to protect the gas fields, which "have significant meaning for the economy of the state and its security, and the deals are further proof of that."
"The Defense Ministry aims to deepen its purchases from Israel as much as possible, even in a situation where there's a highly competitive market with extensive international supply and a budget in shekels," said Col. Avi Dadon, the head of the ministry's procurement administration.
Two large natural gas fields and two smaller fields were discovered in the Mediterranean Sea off Israel's northern shore in a series of discoveries beginning in 2009.
