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This December, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Siberi) issued its new list of the top 100 arms production and military service companies in the world for 2022.
Three Israeli companies were included in the list, with Elbit Systems ranked 24th, Aerospace Industries Company ranked 35th, while Rafael Company ranked 42nd, meaning that the three companies were among the 50 most prominent companies in the world.
Another report by the institute revealed that Israel ranked tenth on the list of the largest arms exporters during the period from 2018 to 2022, with a share of 2.3% of total arms sales globally, and India came at the forefront of importers of Israeli weapons with a share of 37%, followed by Azerbaijan with a share of 9.1%.
This demonstrates Israel’s presence in an advanced position in the global arms trade network, after major countries such as the United States, Russia, Britain, France, and Germany.
How did the transformation happen?
During the first two decades of its founding, Israel relied on armaments from France, which at the time wanted to build a regional balance with Egypt in response to its support for the Algerian struggle against the French occupation.
With the decline of this reconciliatory rapprochement, the French President imposed… Charles de Gaulle An embargo on arms sales to Israel in 1967.
Subsequently, Tel Aviv directed 46% of its total investments allocated for research and development to the local arms industry sector with the aim of meeting the needs of its army, reducing dependence on foreign armament sources that are linked to political restrictions, as well as seeking to achieve side goals such as stimulating economic growth and developing technological innovation for its use. In the civil sector, creating job opportunities for scientists and engineers who immigrated to Israel from Western industrialized countries.
USA on line
With the United States beginning to provide military aid to Israel in 1973, there was a boom in the Israeli military industries sector, as Washington allowed Israel to convert part of the aid into shekels with the aim of purchasing weapons from Israeli companies, which increased the volume of domestic demand.
Since the feasibility of production depends on economies of scale, and because Israeli arms companies serve a small domestic market compared to their counterparts in the United States, the Soviet Union, and Western countries, Israel searched for foreign markets that would allow expansion of exports, which would allow the production of weapons at an economic price.
Retired army and intelligence officers worked to establish private companies and promote Israeli arms exports abroad, especially to Latin American countries, which by 1980 accounted for 60% of Israeli arms exports.
Then India entered the line with the growth of relations between the two countries, leading to the inauguration of official relations between them in 1992, as well as Azerbaijan, which gained independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and needed quality weapons quickly in light of its repeated wars with Armenia, and thus the direction of Israeli arms exports moved to the continent of Asia. .
Another leap occurred when, in 1999, Washington began determining the volume of its annual aid to Israel in advance within a “memorandum of understanding” lasting 10 years each, and renewed periodically, which allowed the Israeli army to develop long-term plans for armaments, to guarantee Israeli companies stable financing for weapons manufacturing programs.
By 2014, Israel had become the largest exporter of drones in the world, with a share of the global market that reached 60%. It had also become one of the leading countries in the field of precision weapons, electronic warfare, command and control systems, and surveillance and reconnaissance systems, as well as manufacturing Merkava tanks and armored combat vehicles. Nimr, and air and missile defense systems such as Iron Dome And David’s sling and arrow.
The size of Israeli arms companies
There are currently in Israel, according to the book “The Israeli Defense Industry and American Security Aid” issued by the Israeli National Studies Institute in 2020, about 600 companies working in the weapons production system.
It employs more than 45,000 people, with average annual sales of $10 billion, and it exports 70% of its production abroad, which is a huge number when compared to its American counterpart, which exports about 24% of its production, and its Russian counterpart, which exports 55% of its total sales.
Since the large Israeli arms companies are wholly or partially owned by the government, such as the Israel Aerospace Industries Corporation and Rafael Advanced Weapons Systems, these companies have helped Tel Aviv build more extensive international relations, as selling weapons is not limited to the delivery of equipment, but rather opens the door to close relations between the seller And the buyer regarding operational training, maintenance and supply of spare parts.
Since the ability of countries to export weapons is linked to those weapons proving their effectiveness on the ground if they are tested in real combat operations, Israeli arms exports therefore depend on the reputation and performance of the Israeli army.
This prompted Germany, after the outbreak of the Ukraine war, to request the purchase of the Arrow-3 missile defense system from Tel Aviv in light of the success of the Israeli missile defense systems in confronting a large percentage of the missiles launched towards Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant signed the deal worth $3.5 billion during his visit to the capital, Berlin, last September.
Possible effects of the Al-Aqsa flood
In light of the collapse of the Israeli defense line with the Gaza Strip on the day it was implemented Al-Qassam Brigades practical Al-Aqsa flood On October 7, the surveillance and protection systems failed to prevent the storming of the separation wall, and he was exposed Merkava tank The pride of the Israeli military industry was destroyed and damaged with homemade missiles during the ground operation, and the Nimr armored vehicle, which costs about 3 million dollars, received a painful blow after one of it was destroyed by a Kornet missile, killing all its passengers.
Despite its reputation for providing protection for its occupants against anti-tank missiles through an active protection system, in addition to its strong armor, this has damaged the image of this type of weapon, and calls into question the extent of its effectiveness.
The repercussions of this began early. According to Intelligence Online, South Korea began reviewing the effectiveness of the surveillance and protection system that it purchased from the Israeli company Elbit Systems to monitor the buffer zone with North Korea, after it failed to protect the separation wall with Gaza, in light of the fear of North Korea launches a similar attack that disrupts the effectiveness of the system.
Tel Aviv also resorted to halting all sales of military and security equipment and related services to Colombia after Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that “terrorism kills innocent children in Palestine,” as Colombia purchases drones and electronic surveillance and espionage technologies from Israel.
Given that arms sales are carried out according to contracts that take several years to agree and implement, the repercussions of the performance of Israeli weapons in Gaza on sales are likely to appear successively in the coming years, specifically arms sales that prove to be unsuccessful and fail to achieve the promoted features such as the Tiger armored vehicle and the Merkava tank, as well as About Israeli surveillance systems.
