Following last week’s wildfire in the Jerusalem Hills and criticism over his cancellation of a plan to buy Black Hawk helicopters for Israel’s firefighting fleet, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the budget for the purchase had already been approved last year and that the project is moving forward.
However, no negotiations are currently underway with Sikorsky Aircraft, the helicopter’s manufacturer.
Even if the helicopters were ordered now, they would not arrive in Israel before 2028. And that’s considered one of the faster options: acquiring specialized firefighting aircraft such as Canada’s De Havilland CL-515 would take around four years.
התקשורת: בן גביר בלם את עבודת המטה של תומר לוטן לרכש מסוקי כיבוי.בדיקת עובדות: המשטרה, הכבאות והמל״ל המליצו על רכש המסוקים כבר ב-2019, תומר לוטן ועומר בר לב לא תקצבו אותו באגורה.אני תקצבתי את הפרויקט ב-160 מיליון והנעתי את הליך הרכישה.אל תאמינו לתקשורת השמאל pic.twitter.com/OcftT7ETIo
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) May 2, 2025
The current plan involves buying two helicopters in the first phase, at a cost of NIS 160 million. These would be the civilian version of the Black Hawk, which could use the Israel Air Force’s existing infrastructure for maintenance and pilot training.
The Air Force already operates two squadrons of the American-made utility helicopters, which would help reduce long-term costs. The Israeli Navy is also set to receive maritime Black Hawks (Seahawks), and the more helicopters of this type in service, the lower the overall maintenance costs are expected to be.
The plan is to buy the standard version of the helicopter, not the dedicated firefighting Firehawk model that features a built-in belly water tank. Instead, the Black Hawks would use a large external bucket capable of carrying around three tons of water, similar to the setup previously used by the Air Force’s Yasur helicopters.
This is five times the water capacity of the two twin-engine Airbus helicopters currently operated by the police air unit, which are also used for firefighting support.
The amount of liquid these helicopters can carry is similar to that of the Air Tractor planes used by the firefighting squadron. However, unlike the planes, the Black Hawks can operate at night, and their water drops are more accurate. They can also land near a fire site, refill their bucket and quickly take off again – without needing to return to a designated airstrip.
The push to equip the firefighting unit with its own helicopters stems from the limited availability of the Air Force to provide consistent support. After the last major fire in the Jerusalem Hills, the Air Force demonstrated for the first time the use of its new Shimshon (C-130J Super Hercules) aircraft for firefighting.
In response, then-defense minister Yoav Gallant demanded that the Air Force keep a Shimshon equipped with a firefighting tank on standby during fire season. However, the Air Force said that “due to the number of operational missions, it cannot regularly allocate an aircraft on standby for firefighting,” and the plan was dropped.
According to US Department of Defense reports, Israel has so far purchased only seven C-130J Hercules aircraft, despite receiving approval to buy nine.
Defense Ministry considers new purchases
The Defense Ministry is considering acquiring two additional aircraft with shortened fuselages that could serve both the firefighting system and the Air Force for aerial refueling missions. These would replace the aging Hercules refueling planes, which are now 50 years old. But the Hercules comes at a significantly higher cost than the Black Hawk – around $70 million per aircraft.
The Hercules can carry more than 10 tons of water and has a relatively high flight speed, but it must return to an airport or suitable airstrip to refill its tanks. The Canadian CL-515 is slightly cheaper, at about $60 million per unit, but would require a separate maintenance and training system – unlike the Hercules, which already benefits from existing infrastructure in Israel and at Israel Aerospace Industries.
