"Despite the intense international challenges and competition, we have managed to keep Israel among the world's top 10 security exporters with a market share of over $7 billion,” said Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Yair Kulas, head of SIBAT, the Export & Defense Cooperation Division of Israel’s Defense Ministry.
The last year saw a continued decrease in military exports compared to 2017, which saw a record $9,360 billion in defense exports.
Kulas said that despite the challenging year there was a “significant increase” in the number of transactions signed in 2019, especially government-to-government (G2G) contracts.
According to SIBAT, in 2019 Israeli companies exported radars and electronic warfare systems (17%), missiles, rockets and air defense systems (15%), manned aircraft and avionics (13%), observation and optronics (12%), weapon stations and launchers (10%), drone systems and UAVs (8%), intelligence, information and cyber systems (7%), C4I and communication systems (7%), vehicles and APCs (4%), customer service and other (3%), ammunition and armament (3%), naval systems (1%)
The largest distribution of Israeli defense exports was in Asia Pacific with 41% (down from 46% the year before) followed by Europe with 26% (up from 15%), North America with 25% (a significant increase from 6% in 2018), Africa with 4% (up from 2%) and Latin America also at 4% (down from 6%).
“We were expecting to see a trend of growth in G2G agreements throughout the year 2020, but the corona pandemic has devastated the global economy and the defense sector," Kulas said. "As such, we are adjusting our activities in the Defense Ministry and working to turn this crisis into an opportunity [for international collaboration] for our defense industries."
A leader in defense, the world has for many years looked to the Jewish state for security and intelligence. Israel’s defense industry has leading international companies exporting to countries across the globe.
Over the course of the year, some 120 defense industries – 99 of them small industries from Israel’s periphery – were able to sign dozens of significant contracts around the world, with the assistance and support of SIBAT and the Defense Ministry.
Kulas told reporters that SIBAT works to connect the smaller industries with international tenders and conferences. As part of SIBAT’s efforts to support smaller and medium-sized defense industries, if a large company such as Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) or Rafael Advanced Defense Systems gets an order from another country as part of a deal mediated by the government, the large company is obligated to transfer 20% of the contract to subcontracting by a small- or medium-sized company.
“It’s important for us,” Kulas said, adding that the contracts they signed “reflect the strength of the Israeli security industry.”