The Israeli Navy said it needs some 760 million U.S. dollars to protect the country's natural gas and oil rigs in the Mediterranean Sea and prepare for a conflict with neighboring states, local media reported Tuesday.

The army's high command last year tasked the navy's missile boat flotilla with securing the Tamar, Leviathan and Yam Tethys drilling platforms, as well as five other contiguous offshore fields discovered in recent years, which Israel hopes will enable it to become a gas exporter and reduce its dependence on foreign energy sources, mainly natural gas imported from Egypt.

According to military intelligence, the rigs, located upward of 130 km beyond Israel's territorial waters but within the country's "economic waters zone," are a prime target for militant and rocket attacks.

Israel is concerned about the possibility that the Russian-made Yakhont, a supersonic anti-ship cruise missile sold to Syria, would eventually find its way to Lebanon's Hezbollah.

The Iranian-backed group has threatened to strike the Israeli rigs, forcing the navy to boost patrols in the vicinity in recent months.

Israeli defense officials said the plans to defend the rigs, dubbed "Project Shield," call for bolstering the navy's aging fleet of Sa'ar 5-class corvettes with at least four new missile boats equipped with advanced radars and a system capable of firing long-range air defense and surface-to-surface missiles.

Additional items on the navy's shopping list include unmanned maritime vessels and unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as Israel Military Industries' 160 mm Accular -- a GPS-guided missile system with a range of 40 km that could be deployed against enemy installations and radars.

The navy said the new weaponry would also enable it to prepare for a scenario of a future offensive against Gaza, Lebanon or Syria. In armed conflicts in recent years, naval forces aided the army's offensives, providing them with fire support.

"The turmoil in the Middle East does not skip the maritime theater. The sea looks calm but beneath the surface there are whirlpools that force us to prepare and be ready," navy chief Maj. Gen. Ram Rothberg warned on Monday.