Rafael CEO: Iron Beam laser air-defense operational next year

Spike anti-tank missiles credit: Rafael Spokesperson
Spike anti-tank missiles credit: Rafael Spokesperson

The Israeli defense technology company's CEO Yoav Tourgeman tells "Globes" that since the start of the year Rafael has hired more than 1,100 employees.

Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has reported a record backlog of orders of NIS 59 billion at the end of the second quarter. The orders include a significant and surprising rise in the Americas, and a slight fall in sales in Israel.

Rafael's revenue in the second quarter was NIS 3.9 billion, up 25% from the corresponding quarter of 2023. New orders in the second quarter amounted to NIS 6.4 billion, up from NIS 3.9 billion in the second quarter of 2023.

Sales in Israel represented 54% of overall sales in the second quarter, down from 59% in the first quarter. Sales to Europe fell over this period from 20% to 19% and sales to Asia rose from 17% to 18%, while sales to the Americas jumped from 3% to 8%. The ZM website recently reported that Argentina is considering procuring Spike LR2 anti-tank missiles from Rafael and the rise could stem from such a sale.

"Since the start of the year we have hired more than 1,100 employees"

Rafael CEO Yoav Tourgeman tells "Globes," "Since the start of the year we have hired more than 1,100 employees. A third of our activity deals with development, we invest huge amounts of energy in determining the future." Turgeman says that Rafael's laser-based air defense system, Iron Beam is expected to enter operational service next year, as previously announced. "Iron Beam is just one of the developments that is progressing at a nice pace, and it has global technological breakthroughs."

A series of products that Tourgeman admits is arousing great interest overseas is the Spike anti-tank missile, in which, as reported, Argentina is also interested. The Spike series includes a variety of missiles starting with the shoulder-launched model (Spike SR), which weighs about 10 kilograms and has a range of up to 2 kilometers through to the Spike NLOS, which weighs 71 kilograms and has a range of up to 32 km and can be launched from land, air or sea platforms. The Spike series also includes the Firefly, a loitering munition weighing 15 kilograms and with a range of up to 1.5 kilometers, although most of the series are anti-tank missiles. "We are active in 41 countries with a Spike," Tourgeman says. "There is a club for system users, with knowledge and experience passed around between each other."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 28, 2024.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.

Spike anti-tank missiles credit: Rafael Spokesperson
Spike anti-tank missiles credit: Rafael Spokesperson
Unframe founders credit: Yossi Yarom Israeli AI enterprise platform co Unframe raises $50m

Unframe’s turnkey AI solutions enable companies to solve any enterprise AI use case at scale with fully functional, customized AI solutions for businesses in a matter of hours, rather than months.

Combatica credit: Combatica Combatica launches next-gen VR AI training platform

The Israeli company's virtual reality platform includes 50 AI generated scenarios, seven maps and even situations for operating night vision.

Shekel credit: Shutterstock Vladirina 32 Shekel volatility after US tariffs announcement

The shekel is weakening sharply against the euro, which is gaining following the unveiling of Donald Trump's tariffs plan.

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich credit: Noam Moskovitz Knesset Spokesperson Treasury assesses potential damage to Israel's US exports

Israel will be charged a higher tariff on its exports to the US - its biggest export customer - than Turkey and the UAE.

Iranian flag credit: Shutterstock Why inflation haunts Iran

With a month-on-month increase of 3.3% and an annual rate of 37.1%, inflation reflects the struggles of millions of Iranians.

APM merges with lawyers from Doron, Tikotzky Kantor, Gutman credit: Eyal Merilos APM merges with 12 lawyers from Doron, Tikotzky Kantor, Gutman

With the addition of these 12 lawyers, Amit Pollak Matalon & Co. will now have 135 lawyers.

US President Donald Trump credit: Reuters Sipa USA Israel on list as Trump unveils tariffs

Relatively low reciprocal tariffs will be imposed on Israeli goods sold in the US.

Deflated unicorn credit: Shutterstock Big Tech 50 reports more huge falls in startup valuations

Israeli R&D partnership Big Tech 50 reports that an investment of $2 million in Orcam made in 2021, shrank to just $31,000 at the end of 2024.

NextFerm technologies based on yeast credit: NextFerm Food-tech co NextFerm suspends operations

The company, which produces food ingredients in yeast without genetic engineering, cannot pay its debts and is seeking a buyer.

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich credit: Shlomi Yosef OECD sees recovery in growth but high inflation

The OECD Israel Economic Survey 2025 recommends that the Israeli government take several restraining measures, in order to exit the economic storm created by the war.

Dano Ben-Hur credit: Dror Sithakol Statisticians contradict BoI on impact of housing finance deals

The Central Bureau of Statistics insists the impact of 20/80 buy now pay later financing deals on the real estate market and housing prices is minimal.

Governor of the Bank of Israel Amir Yaron  credit: Government Press Office Debt fears top Bank of Israel's concerns

Most unusually, Governor of the Bank of Israel Amir Yaron's press conference last week did not focus on inflation and the impending interest rate decision.

US President Donald Trump  credit: Reuters/Leah Millis Israel moves to avoid Trump's tariffs axe

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich has signed an order canceling all tariffs on imports from the US. The impact will mostly be on agricultural produce.

Forbes Rich List credit: Shutterstock Maslowski Marcin Wiz founders ranked in Forbes 2025 Rich List

There are a few dozen Israelis listed in the 2025 Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List including Wiz founders Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik and Ami Luttwak.

SatixFy CEO Nir Barkan credit: Ariel Barkan Canada's MDA Space to buy Israeli satcom co SatixFy

MDA Space will pay $269 million for the Israeli company, including taking on a $76 million debt and a 75% premium on SatixFy's closing price on Nasdaq yesterday.

Raising dollars credit: Shutterstock Israeli startups raised over $1b in March

Israeli privately-held tech companies have raised $2.1 billion in the first three months of 2025, according to IVC-LeumiTech, up 24% from the corresponding quarter of 2024.

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018