Pentagon Makes Largest Known Arms Purchase From Israel — For Banned Cluster Weapons

February 8, 2026

Dan Glaun, The Intercept

The Department of Defense has quietly signed a $210 million deal to buy advanced cluster shells from one of Israel’s state-owned arms companies, marking unusually large new commitments to a class of weapons and an Israeli defense establishment both widely condemned for their indiscriminate killing of civilians.

The deal, signed in September and not previously reported, is the department’s largest contract to purchase weapons from an Israeli company in available records, according to an online federal database that covers the last 18 years.

Children receive safety training for leftover land mines and unexploded cluster munitions in Shebaa, Lebanon, on Jan. 21, 2026. Cluster weapons, which Israel has used in Lebanon in past conflicts, can remain unexploded and dangerous long after a war has ended. Photo: Ramiz Dallah/Anadolu via Getty Images