6/17/2024–|Last updated: 6/17/202405:01 PM (Mecca time)
An Israeli government report said – today, Monday – that Israeli defense industry exports rose to an unprecedented level of $13.1 billion in 2023, pointing to hundreds of contracts signed by several companies.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense stated in its report that AThey are defense exports in 2023:
- Missile and air defense systems accounted for about 36% of exports.
- Radar and anti-aircraft systems 11%.
- Ammunition and firing equipment 11%.
- Manned aircraft and avionics 9%.
- Ammunition and weapons 8%.
- Surveillance and electronics 5%.
- Military vehicles and machinery 5%.
- Information and cyber intelligence 4%.
- Drones 4%.
- Information technology, communications and communications systems 4%.
- Satellite and satellite 2%.
- Offshore platforms and systems 1%.
Data on defense exports by geographic locations are as follows:
- Asia and the Pacific 48%.
- Europe 35%.
- North America 9%
- Latin America 4%.
- Abraham Accord countries 3%
- Africa 1%.
The value of Israeli defense industry exports reached $12.5 billion in 2022, and has now reached double what it was 5 years ago.
The ministry added that defense industry exports have become a major priority as part of efforts to strengthen strategic security relations around the world, enter new markets, remove bureaucratic barriers, and reduce regulatory obstacles.
Defense Minister Yoav Galant said, “While our industries focus primarily on providing the defense establishment with the capabilities necessary to support our forces and defend our citizens… they also continue to enhance areas of cooperation and exports to international partners.”
Arms exports are important to Israel’s economy
Arms sales are important to the Israeli economy, and the Israeli military industry began because of the feeling that accompanied the occupying state in the wake of its seizure of Palestinian lands. However, this changed in the wake of June 1967, when Israel went beyond the stage of military industrialization for the purpose of self-use towards exporting its weapons to conflict areas. Several times, the entire Israeli economy quickly fell into the grip of military exports, when in 1986 they constituted more than a quarter of its total industrial exports.
Military exports accounted for about 8% of Israel’s total exports in 2022, and thus it is considered the largest arms exporter in the world in terms of per capita, and it also ranks tenth globally among the largest arms exporting countries.
Aaron Kleiman, professor of political science at Tel Aviv University and an expert in the field of arms sales, points out that Israeli arms manufacturers have reached a level of importance within the Israeli economy such that arms exports have become an economic necessity.
The largest military industry companies in Israel are owned by the occupying state, and the number of workers in these companies is greater than the number of workers in any other sector, which means that any company being closed will lead to a major internal crisis, and the only way to avoid this is to search for more export clients. “We can no longer rely on the local market,” said an IAI official. “We have to go abroad to get contracts.”
