Extraordinary Growth in Israel’s Defense Export

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Israel’s defense export in 2017 reached $9.2 billion, according to figures published by SIBAT, the International Defense Cooperation Directorate of the Israel Ministry of Defense. This marks a 40% increase in comparison to 2016 defense export. During the year, the defense industries, supported by SIBAT and other agencies of the Ministry of Defense, signed dozens of major contracts which facilitated the continuity in Israel’s increasing share in the global defense market.

According to the announcement on the MoD website, the major categories in the 2017 export were: Missiles and aerial defense systems (31%), radar and electronic warfare systems (17%), avionics and upgrades (14%), ground, ammunition and gun posts (9%), teleprocessing and communications systems (9%), observation and optronics (8%), intelligence, information and cyber systems (5%), services and miscellaneous (3%), UAVs (2%), marine systems (1%), satellites and space (1%).

The largest distribution of Israeli defense exports was in Asia Pacific, with 58%, followed by Europe with 21%, North America with 14%, Africa with 5% and Latin America at 2 %.

According to SIBAT Director, Brig.-Gen.(Res.) Michel Ben-Baruch, in bizportal.co.il, the contracts with India reached one-third of the $9.2 billion export.

The majority of the new contracts that have been signed in the Asia-Pacific region were due to an increased focus on terror.