In the video: Promotional video of the "Windbreaker" system/photo: "Raphael" company
Let's start with what should not be defined except as a password update.
In the days of the battle for Kibbutz Nirim in the War of Independence, the well-known saying was established according to which: "It is not the tank that will win, but the man."
76 years have passed, and not only do the residents of Nirim still have to deal with the threats of the murderers, but also in everything related to the Israeli economy, the tank beats the man: the Start-up Nation, "Amot HaZank" - the crown we liked to wear on our heads, was one of the world's largest arms exporters .
In the current laundromat of words, there are almost no "weapons dealers", there are "exporters of defense systems" - this not only eases the marketing but also the conscience - and it must be noted that in some cases this is indeed the case, but hey, wait, we did not gather here to torment ourselves, But on the contrary, to celebrate!
So let's start with the celebrations: last week the aerospace industry celebrated with another record quarter of sales and orders, which sums up a wonderful year, literally.
Next week, the celebrations are expected to take place, one after the other, at Elbit and Raphael's.
These companies (and smaller manufacturers that are less known to the public) celebrate their success, but if we try to look at the situation from the drone's perspective, we will find that the absolute success is even more impressive as a relative success: if the high-tech industry was the engine of the Israeli economy, then exactly what happened to that 7040014 , the locomotive, the hero of that song, he was forced to look with wide eyes at the new king passing him like a well-protected tank in the most modern version of a "wind jacket".
The presidents of Russia and China, at a meeting of the best arms marketing department in the world/Reuters
Vladimir from marketing?
She was not mistaken: it was not the events of October 7th and what has developed since then on the southern and northern fronts that caused the turning point, we would not be so arrogant as to think that the Israeli reality is shaping the consumption of weapons in the world.
If anyone deserves to have his statue placed in front of every weapons manufacturing plant, it would be Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (although a nice picture of Xi Jinping, President of China can also be hung in the foyer).
The fact that the world has become a less safe place, where the cold war has been renewed, that in places like Ukraine has become hot and palpable and in other places, from China, through the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, it is heating up on a small fire, has turned the world into a weapon junkie (sorry: "defense systems") .
By the way, the reference is not to countries that fuck themselves to know, but rather to clear peace-seekers like Germany, for example, whose defense budget was doubled (from one percent of the budget to two percent), a country like Finland that suddenly felt itself exposed to the jaws of the Russian bear, peace-seeking countries like the Netherlands or Greece - the latter became a central player among those who might be harmed by the alliance between Erdogan and Iran.
And so it continues all the way to Japan, a country that has only had a symbolic army since World War II - and now stands at the forefront of the struggle against China and North Korea, and from there on, south, all the way to Australia, which has been in an increasingly heated conflict with the Chinese for several years.
In other words, the arms market, which in the days of "almost world peace" mainly includes African and South American dictators, has expanded beyond recognition.
All of this happened as mentioned before the Simchat Torah massacre that brought Israel into the campaign against Gaza and "half a campaign" against Lebanon.
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IDF forces in Gaza. One of the side effects of the war is the possibility of an operational test of weapons systems / IDF spokesman
Wet exercise
This does not mean that the security situation has no effect on Israel's capabilities to develop weapons: cyber warfare, for example, both defensive and offensive, takes place non-stop and obliges Israel to initiate and respond through special units to what was once called "computer warfare", which on the one hand includes talented high school students - And on the other hand, the best of the high-tech people come out of them.
The ongoing confrontation with Hamas and the threat of Hezbollah's long-range missiles (and of course Iran's, if and when) also gave birth to the Iron Dome (which is in a process of constant improvement), the arrow, the magic wand - and other beautiful names meant to protect us from an ugly reality.
And of course there is nothing like direct confrontations, from the Second Lebanon War, through all those operations in the south, culminating in the now extensive ground maneuver in Gaza, to test "in the wet" - from anti-tank defense systems to offensive weapons (without having any information on the subject, there will be no It is absurd to estimate that any country that faces the threat of guerrilla warfare will not only learn from the Israeli tactical experience in tunnel warfare, but will also want to acquire dedicated weapon systems developed for this purpose.)
As in any other field, also (and perhaps especially) in the development of weapons, there is no substitute For experience gained in the field, where one day of combat teaches more than a year on the range (or any field of fire for experimental purposes).
The IDF's military intelligence in preparation for the shooting.
The war increased the armament needs of the local market / Ruben Castro
In-Country Tourism
The undermining of security in the world, long before it was undermined within our borders, triggered the backlog of orders from the military industries in Israel.
Since the corona subsided, and even more so since Russia invaded Ukraine, we see a continuous increase in sales and contracts signed with countries around the world, contracts that already guarantee the profit line of this industry for years to come.
And although it's not "because of us", it's hard not to look at this interesting phenomenon without mixed feelings: if the biggest deals in the history of Israeli high-tech included in the past quite a few systems designed to improve our ability to navigate from point to point (Wize) or the safety of traveling by car (Mobilay) - and so Next: agro-tech, food-tech, and more, because now the only sub-industry from which it is possible to make a proper exit in high-tech, is in the field of cyber - and not protection systems for our phone and laptop lest they be hijacked by greedy hackers (that is, not only) , but larger systems designed to protect national computer infrastructures.
This is also of course only in the best case, because it is suspected that offensive cyber made in Israel is being used by regimes around the world to violate human rights - according to foreign publications, but also according to common sense.
The war in the south and the danger of expanding the limited war in the north, turned Israel from a producer to a user as well (if anyone's ears are now ringing with the warning that Tony Montana received in "Scar Face", it's no accident).
The Israeli Ministry of Defense, one of whose departments approves defense exports from Israel, has also become a much larger consumer than it was before October 7, so that even if you knew the global demand (a great blessing to humanity, a danger to those who made their living on the arms trade), it is a bit like hotels In Eilat, you can count on the Israelis to pay any price.
MK Eliyahu Rabivo who admitted that he acts on behalf of the aviation authority's workers' committee. What if tomorrow an MK acts on behalf of military industries in the foreign affairs and defense committee?/Knesset spokeswoman, Dani Shem Tov
A warning about cigarettes
And here we come to another Achilles heel of the phenomenon (which brings many billions into Israel).
Among the three largest manufacturers, one is also an active player in the political arena: thousands of its tens of thousands of employees work for the ruling party, so much so that the former chairman of the workers' committee, a position that in this case is inherited from father to son, serves as a minister in the government.
Beyond problems such as irregularities and salary celebrations (in a government company), not seeing the treasury officials raining, influence on the media thanks to advertising budgets (for those who wondered why a system whose clientele includes several hundred statesmen and generals around the world needs to advertise on Israeli television) and other ills that accompany this phenomenon, it also has potential Truly appalling:
in recent weeks, we have witnessed the exclusion of duty-free cigarettes from the general price increase, due to the dominance of airport authority employees among those in power and the ruling party.
So it is true that, unlike tobacco consumers, the customers of the Israeli defense industry are mainly overseas, but would you want a weapons manufacturer, positive And "ours" as much as it may be, is it the one that will influence the considerations of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, in the way that, according to MK Rabivo's testimony, the Airports Authority influences the considerations of the Economy Committee?
Destruction in Ukraine following the Russian invasion.
Even if Israel is on the whole freed from the impunity, it is hard not to feel discomfort in the face of the increase in defense exports/Reuters
Cosmopolitan is spoiled
There will be those who will say, perhaps rightly, that Israel on the whole derives the maximum benefit from a wretched situation, a bit like our dominance in Paralympic sports that began back in the days when it was called "disabled sports", after the Yom Kippur War that "produced" thousands of young disabled people (their occupation in those days when they called to "defense systems" under the simple name "weapons").
There will be those who will add and say that Israel needs every dollar that enters its coffers - and that in any case, even if our best sales agent is Putin, we are not the ones who made him invade Ukraine (and thus threaten all of Europe) - this is also of course true.
And yet, when in the income column of the State of Israel, the export of arms soars and overtakes (for example) the development of innovations designed to solve the problems of water shortage or world hunger, somber thoughts about the future creep into the head - not necessarily of the State of Israel, but of the entire human race.
More on the same topic:
Elbit
Raphael
Israel Aerospace Industries
Defense export
High tech
War of Iron Swords
Gaza war
Russia Ukraine war