IDF soldiers. Photo: IDF.

JNS.org – The Israel Defense Forces is considering trimming the amount of days its reserves must serve in the second half of 2013 to cope with the 3-billion-shekel ($800 million) budget cut agreed to earlier this month.

To deal with the shortfalls in reserves, the IDF would decrease or cut regular-unit training, allowing the army to redeploy regular soldiers to locations normally manned by reserves.

The IDF was also considering slowing its procurement for the Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile defense systems, according to Army Radio. Altogether, the cuts could save the IDF upward of NIS 1 billion ($270 million).

“There’s no doubt that cutting 3 billion shekels is painful and difficult, and it will be reflected in three ways: reserves, training or procurement. In my opinion, these cuts are going to hurt all three of these fields,” Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon told Army Radio.