Confronted by significant cuts to its budget, the Israeli military is expected to cancel large-scale exercises that were scheduled to be held in 2012, local media reported Thursday.

Five brigade-level maneuvers that were planned to begin in April have been axed, and the army is weighing whether to call off one division-level exercise, according to senior officers who spoke with the Yediot Aharonot daily.

As well, the army will downsize drills that have already been approved, cut back on the amount of live ammunition used in training and reduce the number of reserve units called up for operations in the West Bank and along the border with the Gaza Strip, the newspaper said.

Defense officials warned that the damage to the military's training routine could have severe ramifications.

"In light of the prospect of a regional deterioration this year, we should be training more than ever before ... the responsibility lies entirely with the political echelon," one official said.

"The military cannot regress to the years that preceded the 2006 Lebanon War (during which training was kept to a minimum due to budgetary constraints)," he said.

Israel's defense budget, among the highest in the world per capita, has been the subject of heated public debate ever since record numbers of Israelis took to the street last summer to protest mounting housing and living costs.

Last September, a government panel recommended the implementation of major social reforms at the expense of military spending, sparking a bitter altercation between the defense and finance ministries.

Defense Ministry officials said they expected their budget to shrink by 15 billion shekels (about 4 billion U.S. dollars) in the next three years, 20 percent of which will be trimmed this year, the Globes business daily reported last week.

"The budget distress requires painful decisions," said one official, referring to media reports that the Defense Ministry was considering to scrap production of the Merkava Mark IV, the army's main battle tank.

According to Thursday's report, the budget cuts would not affect the procurement of advanced weapons systems, the training of regular army units and stipends paid to disabled combat veterans. The hardest-hit are expected to be reserve field units staffed by civilian volunteers.