TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Israel's military budget is short of about $1 billion and defense operations will have to be scaled back, officials said Sunday.
A budget analysis said the air force would have to ground many of its planes this year and the production of anti-missile systems would likely stop, Haaretz reported.
Early last year, Israel deployed its Iron Dome system that intercepts short-range rocket and missiles. The United States gave Israel $205 million to finance four of the assemblies.
Israel also is developing the David's Sling system to intercept medium- to long-range rockets and cruise missiles in conjunction with the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon, the report said.
Last month, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu overruled a proposed cut of nearly $1 billion to the military drafted in response to public protests that social services were suffering because of military spending.
Regardless, the cost of ongoing defense and military projects has created a deficit, which Haaretz said "could increase terror threats against Israel."
