The Government has issued export licences worth at least £7.9 billion for the sale to Israel of arms and other dual-use military equipment - although not all of it is destined for the armed forces.

Details published last month by the Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC) show they include small arms ammunition, weapons sights, military communications equipment and "all-wheel drive vehicles with ballistic protection" as well as a components for an array of equipment of various kinds.

One licence has been issued in relation to the American-built Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, which is due to start arriving in Israel from 2016 with the first aircraft becoming operational in 2018.

Licences have also been issued for components for assault rifles, pistols, helmets, body armour and military vehicles along with permits covering various forms of cryptographic equipment.

The biggest single licence - worth more than £7.7 billion - is for "equipment employing cryptography and software for equipment employing cryptography" which was originally issued in early 2013.

Ministers have said that while the use of cryptographic equipment meant that a licence was required, the goods covered were in fact for the building of public mobile phone networks and were for "purely commercial end use".

In all, the CAEC said there are currently 381 valid licences for export of equipment to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, although the headline figures on the value of the licences are not necessarily good guides to the actual quantities being sold.

Often exporters do not achieve the full volume of sales permitted under the individual licences - like that issued for the mobile phone network equipment - while "open" licences, such as the one issued for the JSF programme, allow unlimited exports.

Ministers have told the CAEC that all the licences were issued in compliance with Government guidelines, which forbid the export of arms or other equipment if there is a risk it could be used for internal repression.

In a letter sent to the CAEC in July last year concerning the JSF licence, Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "At this time we do not believe there is a clear risk that the JSF would be used for internal repression, would aggravate existing internal tensions or conflict, or be used aggressively against another state.

"As none of the relevant thresholds for refusal have been reached, and given the huge potential benefits for UK industry, I believe that an OGEL (open general export licence) is the most appropriate licence."