Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. chairman Dr. Uzi Landau told the Globes Defense Industry Conference today that Rafael was planning to expand its portfolio over the coming year, and that it intended to acquire new companies. "A deal was reported this week in which Intel bought Habana Labs for $2 billion. This proves that in order to take a big step ahead, you have to buy other companies, and we're interested in acquiring other companies, so that we can display a broader portfolio that will enable us to compete with Lockheed Martin and other companies. We'll do the same thing," Landau said.
Landau told "Globes" correspondent Yuval Azulai, "You compete with technological changes, see what's going on around, and the competition isn't with new threats; it's against the technology of a power in the region, and the company has to think about what sphere to enter. So we're entering what's called the low altitude field. Even if you operate the system from above, had we not entered this field, we couldn't have dealt with it, even with the systems you've got."
Landau addressed the question of preparing to enter the sector of supersonic missiles, which are apparently being developed by China and Russia. He said, "The state will face a difficult dilemma here. Putin talked about an unstoppable weapon, you read that the Chinese built Mach 20 wind tunnels, and that's something that only a superpower can do. Israel will therefore have to decide in which areas we'll allow competition and in which we'll build by ourselves. Developing one warplane costs hundreds of millions and in Israel, every one of the defense companies can develop such centers by itself. When you have a knowledge center, you have to find the balance between competitiveness and monopoly. We'll have to compete and also see how we can cooperate."
Referring to relations with the state, Landau also said, "The Ministry of Defense is delaying payment, because there's a problem caused by the political situation, but I have no doubt that we'll get what we should." He reminded people at the conference that he began his professional career at Rafael, saying, "I began as a young employee at Rafael. Today, it's 50 years since I joined Rafael… I hope my term as chairman will be extended."
Full disclosure: The Globes Defense Industry Conference was held in cooperation with and under the sponsorship of the Herzog, Fox & Ne'eman law firm, Lockheed Martin, Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael, and Elbit Systems.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 18, 2019
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