When he was five years old, R immigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union with his family. They settled in the Krayot townships near Haifa, a few kilometers from Rafael, the armament development authority. "It had a presence in my childhood. Every child in the Krayot knows Rafael, because the factory fences are at the center of the Krayot and on the seafront. From time to time, we would hear explosions and we were curious about what was happening there," he recalls. "At that time, I didn't know about the work and the systems the company develops, and in those years, their systems were less known to the general public. But I did know there was a classified defense facility there."
Today, that boy -- now a Ph.D. -- is the R&D manager of a classified unit at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, with a staff of more than 300 employees. "All development processes are managed by the unit I’m part of, from receiving specifications, to concept, and on through the approvals stages with our customers, whether they are the IDF or entities outside Israel," he says.
In his daily work, Dr. R develops the next generation of armored vehicle protection systems, and conducts simulations with supercomputers and experiments with huge amounts of explosives. "This work is very satisfying," he says, "especially when we see the soldiers and commanders trying out our developments in the yard at Rafael, and two days later already using them out in the field."
Naturally, during wartime, his position has a greater effect on the battlefield than ever. "Weapon systems are developed over many years, so sometimes, by the time they reach the field, you’ve already moved on to another job. During this war, everything has intensified and become immediate and urgent. We have developers who were firing an anti-tank missile while on reserve duty, and improving it when they came back to work. It makes everything more concrete."
"I chose to be a fighter"
Dr. R grew up in a family of immigrants, as mentioned. His father was an English teacher and his mother worked in grocery store chains in various positions, until she was appointed a division manager at one of the supermarkets. His parents worked hard so their children could study and develop.
R was an outstanding student, and from a very young age showed an inclination towards technological subjects. When he was 11, his parents enrolled him in a programming course, but he dreamed of a completely different career. "My dream was to be a heart surgeon. For a long time, I walked around with an anatomical model of a heart and told everyone that's what I was going to be. I don't remember when I let it go, but there was a natural transition to technology," he says.
By twelfth grade, he had already started studying at the Technion, in a course for gifted students. That’s also where he also experienced the first failure of his life. "I flunked the course. It was mentally scarring, because I came in as someone who had never failed his studies, with very high scores in the math and physics matriculation exams. I thought my destiny was to study at Technion, and suddenly, at the first opportunity, I’d messed up."
He did his military service in the IDF Armored Corps, first as a tank gunner and later as a commander. "I was offered to continue to the technological academic reserve track, but I chose to be a fighter," he says. "Even the Armored Corps has a technological aspect, because in the end, people are operating a technological system. The Armored Corps officers training is second only to the Air Force training -- or so they told us."
R signed on for the career army and planned to stay in the IDF for years, but then the Second Lebanon War happened. "My tank was hit by an anti-tank missile. The missile penetrated and unleashed a lot of shrapnel inside. I was close to death. A tank crewman wears a flak jacket and helmet, but the rest of the body was exposed and all the soft tissues were hit by shrapnel. The shrapnel in me was considered life-threatening, so I was evacuated quickly by helicopter."
His recovery from the injury was lengthy and challenging. "Two pieces of shrapnel entered the main arteries in both legs, one in the shin and one in the thigh, and there was also extensive shrapnel damage to the legs, so they had to perform a partial amputation. They had to take a muscle from another area in the leg to close the holes in the legs, and I had to learn to use my legs again. Beyond that, I had extensive burns. In total, I was in the hospital for almost four months, underwent intensive rehabilitation, 18 hours of physical therapy a day, and I currently have more than 70% disability," he says.
To anyone who sees him, neither his injuries nor his disability are visible - his scars remain hidden beneath his clothes. But the severe injury ended his military service and returned him to the technological path he had abandoned three years earlier.
"You see the critical impact"
In 2007, about a year after he was evacuated by helicopter from southern Lebanon, he began studying mechanical engineering at Technion. He was required to retake the same course he had failed in twelfth grade. "I remember real physical fear. In the end, I scored 100 on the exam and finished my studies with high honors, but that failure stayed with me for a while. Today, after two degrees in mechanical engineering and a doctorate in the study of material response under extreme conditions, it already seems far away."
He began working at Rafael in his second year of studies, after the company recruited the top three students in his class. "Everyone wanted to work at Rafael, Intel, or Elbit, which are located here in the north, and Rafael interested me and my friends the most. The three of us still work here today."
In his first student job, R experienced a surprising closure when he was recruited to the IDF armored vehicle protection department. "I was recruited there by chance, and thanks to my background in the Armored Corps, I felt very connected to the work," he says.
Later, R completed a master's degree and a doctorate in mechanical engineering, paid for by Rafael, while advancing in the unit. About two years ago he was appointed to his current position as Research & Development Manager of a classified unit.
Over the past year, Dr. R's department has worked on, among other things, the development of critical protection systems that constitute an important element in combat. "We worked around the clock, with a shortage of manpower, because many of our employees and managers were in the reserves. There is a sense of satisfaction when you see the critical impact it has on the ground. We have managers who are Armored Corps battalion commanders who sent us WhatsApp photos during the war, writing 'Look, the protection you worked on saved me a tank.'"
His younger brother also followed in his footsteps, and currently works at Rafael but in a different department. Although only a corridor separates them at work, they are not allowed to tell each other what they are working on. "When we come to Friday dinner at our parents' house, neither of us talks about what he does at work, and the family already knows not to ask. But we both still have the same complaints about the need for better coffee machines," says R.
Due to his injury, R cannot volunteer for reserve duty, but his background as a fighter proves to be an asset in the most difficult times. "I understand very closely the importance of the products that we ultimately provide to our customers, who are IDF soldiers. When I stand before an officer from the Armored Corps or the Ordnance Corps, who is responsible for protection, I understand their needs. This is a big part of the advantage that the Israeli defense industry has in general. Many of the developers served as fighters and currently serve in the reserves, and we all have connections with reservists."
This article is part of the annual "Globes" "40 Under 40" young leadership in Israel project.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 2, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.