Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Explained

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.
Type:	Government-owned corporation
Predecessor:	Science Corps
Location City:	Haifa
Location Country:	Israel
Key People:	Yoav Har-Even (CEO and President)
Industry:	Defense, Aerospace
Products:	Military aerospace Missiles Ordnance Defense electronics Protection systems Naval systems
Revenue:	$3.450 billion USD (2022)^[1]
Net Income:	$150 million USD (2022)
Owner:	State of Israel
Num Employees:	8,000
Divisions:	Missiles and NCW Division Ordnance and Protection Division Manor - Advanced Defense Technologies Division
Subsid:	RDC (RAFAEL Development Corporation)

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. (Hebrew: רפאל - מערכות לחימה מתקדמות בע"מ) is an Israeli defense technology company. It was founded as Israel's National R&D Defense Laboratory for the development of weapons and military technology within the Israeli Ministry of Defense; in 2002 it was incorporated as a limited company.^[2]

History

Rafael was established in 1948 as the Science Corps (Hebrew: חיל המדע, known by the acronym HEMED, Hebrew: חמד) under the leadership of Shlomo Gur. It was renamed the Research and Design Directorate in 1952. In 1952 David Ben-Gurion decided to split the activities of HEMED into two agencies. The pure scientific research was left with HEMED, while the development of weapons was placed into the new EMET agency.^[3]

In 1954 Ben-Gurion decided to change the name of EMET to RAFAEL (Hebrew: רשות לפיתוח אמצעי לחימה|lit=Armament Development Authority).^[4] It was reorganized as Rafael in 1958.^[5]

In 1995, Yitzhak Rabin asked Amos Horev to become chairman of the board of Rafael, following many years in which Horev had served as chairman of Rafael's advisory committee.^[6] Horev served as chairman until January 2001.^[6]

Restructuring as a limited company

During the early 1990s Rafael was operating at a loss (peaking in 1995, with a loss of $120 million on a turnover of $460 million). Therefore, it was decided to restructure the organization and start operating Rafael as a company. Initially the new company had three discrete divisions, each operating as a profit center, with a separate balance sheet presented to the newly formed management board.^[7]

The restructuring was completed in 2002 when Rafael was formally incorporated as a limited company (although still as a government-owned corporation), while maintaining its technological capabilities through an investment of about 10% of turnover in R&D programs. In its first year as a limited company, Rafael earned a $37 million profit on $830 million in sales.^[8] By 2016, Rafael reported annual net profits of 473 million ILS (roughly 130 million dollars), up 3%, compared with ILS 459 million in 2015. New orders in 2016 totaled ILS 10.7 billion, and sales amounted to ILS 8.32 billion, 6% more than in 2015. The company's orders backlog as of the end of 2016 was ILS 21.72 billion, 12% more than at the end of 2015.^[9]

On October 14, 2007, the company changed its name from Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd. to Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.

Notable products

• Shafrir (later renamed Python) – an air-to-air missiles system.
• Spike – a fourth generation^[10] fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile
• Popeye – an air-to-ground missile system.
  • Popeye Turbo SLCM – believed to be a nuclear-tipped submarine-launched cruise missile^[11]
• Iron Beam – laser missile defense system
• Iron Dome – an air defense system to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells^[12]
• TROPHY^{[13] [14]} – an active protection system for armored vehicles.
• Protector USV – an unmanned surface vehicle (unmanned, autonomous naval combat system)^[15]
• David's Sling – surface-to-air missile system.

Civilian technology transfer

In 1993, Rafael Development Corporation (RDC), a technology transfer company, was established as a joint venture with Elron Electronic Industries; in order to commercialize applications based on defense technologies for medical devices, telecommunications, and semiconductor industries.^[16] The company established and developed several companies including:

• Given Imaging – focusing on capsule endoscopy technologies.^[17]
• Oramir Semiconductor Equipment – a developer of laser cleaning technologies for the semiconductor industry,^[18] sold to Applied Materials in 2001 for $21 million.^[19]
• Starling Advanced Communications (TASE:STLG) – a provider of broadband wireless networking solutions for airliners.^[20]
• Galil Medical – a developer of cryotherapy solutions.^[21]
• SELA Semiconductor Engineering Laboratories – a provider of automated sample preparation tools for semiconductor manufacturers, sold to Camtek Intelligent Imaging.
• 3DV Systems – developers of the ZCam, a time-of-flight camera products for video applications, sold to Microsoft.^[22]
• Medingo – developer of a micro pump insulin delivery system consists of two parts: a semi-disposable insulin dispensing patch and a remote control, which allows for discreet personalized insulin delivery. The company was sold to Hoffmann-La Roche's subsidiary Roche Diagnostics for $160 million as well as up to $40 million in milestone payments.^[23]

Products

• Air Defense systems
  • Iron Dome
    • Tamir, missile used by Iron Dome
    • C-Dome (the naval version of Iron Dome)
  • MIC4AD
  • SPYDER
  • David's Sling
  • Drone Dome
  • Iron Beam
    • SkySonic Air to Air missiles
  • Python-5
  • I-Derby
  • I-Derby ER
  • Sky Spear (missile)
• Air to Surface missile
  • Spice (bomb) Family
  • SPARROW family
  • Rocks Family, unveiled in February 2019.^{[24] [25]}
• Electronic Warfare Systems
  • SKY SHIELD Escort Jamming pod
  • C-GEM Active Offboard Decoy
• Precision Guided missiles
  • SPIKE ER
  • SPIKE LR
  • SPIKE NLOS
  • Sea Breaker
• Missile upgrade kits
  • Electro-optical Precision Integration Kit (EPIK)^[26]
• Active Protection System
  • TROPHY an active armor protection system, "Windbreaker" (Hebrew: מעיל רוח)
• Remote-controlled weapon station
  • Rafael OWS (nicknamed "MAG Rafael" by the IDF)
  • Samson RCWS (Hebrew name: קטלנית)
  • Typhoon Weapon Station for naval applications and military ships
    • Demining Systems Rafael Carpet

See also

• Elbit (El-Op)
• Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)
• Israel Military Industries
• Israel Shipyards
• Military equipment of Israel
• Soltam

References

• The bomb in the basement, Michael Karpin, Ed Simon & Schuster.

External links

• • Rafael Development Corporation
• Rafael at EurpStory 2004
• Rafael at the LIC-2005 conference
• Rafael UK

Notes and References

1. Web site: RAFAEL Registers Record Breaking Year in Sales & Orders. www.rafael.co.il/.
2. Web site: Globes Dun's 100 - Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130514133537/http://duns100.dundb.co.il/ts.cgi?tsscript=comp_eng&duns=600024863. 2013-05-14.
3. The bomb is the basement, page 43
4. The bomb is the basement, page 113
5. Encyclopedia: Science Corps (Hemed). IDF in Its Corps: Army and Security Encyclopedia. Merdor. Monaya M.. Revivim Publishing. 1982. 17–19. 17. he.
6. Web site: Amos Horev . MIT Enterprise Forum . January 1, 2001 . June 17, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110721143533/http://mit-forum.org.il/about/advisory-board/101-amos-horev . 2011-07-21 . dead .
7. News: Rafael Operating as Gov't Company Since January 1 - Preparatory to Becoming Limited Company. Globes. May 1, 1997.
8. News: Rafael 2003 net profit: $37m. Globes. March 17, 2004.
9. News: Rafael reports higher profit for 2016. Azulai. Yuval. March 20, 2017. Globes.
10. Web site: Defense Update issue 2-07 (May - June 2007) : Electro-Optically Guided Weapons . Defense-Update.Com . 1 July 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100106035337/http://defense-update.com/features/du-2-07/helicopters_EO_missiles.htm . 6 January 2010 . dead . dmy-all .
11. http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/missile/popeye-t.htm Popeye Turbo - Israel Special Weapons
12. News: Iron Dome successfully intercepts Gaza rocket for first time. 7 April 2011. Haaretz. 7 April 2011. Anshel Pfeffer. Yanir Yagna.
13. Web site: TROPHY® Active Protection System for AFVs . 2023-10-24 . www.rafael.co.il.
14. Web site: TROPHY™ - Active Protection System (APS) and Hostile Fire Detection (HFD) for Armored Vehicles . 2023-10-24 . Leonardo DRS . en-US.
15. Web site: Protector . Defence Updates . 2007-04-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070503115143/http://www.defense-update.com/products/p/protector.htm . 2007-05-03 . dead .
16. Web site: RDC Rafael Development Corporation Ltd.: Private Company Information - Businessweek. https://web.archive.org/web/20090101143126/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=536891. dead. 1 January 2009. Businessweek.com. 10 July 2015.
17. http://www.investinisrael.gov.il/NR/exeres/01104877-8720-4F39-8441-BD24EC58D8B9.htm Invest in Israel: Given Imaging
18. https://web.archive.org/web/20150403093030/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-12813651.html Fairchild launches Oramir
19. Web site: SEC Info - Applied Materials Inc/DE - '10-Q' for 7/29/01. 10 July 2015.
20. Web site: List of Public Companies Worldwide, Letter - Businessweek - Businessweek. Businessweek.com. 10 July 2015.
21. News: Elron sells entire Galil Medical stake. Globes. 15 March 2010.
22. Web site: Shmulik . Shelah . Microsoft confirms 3DV acquisition . . Globes Publisher Itonut . . 2009-06-22 . [Microsoft corporate vice president of Israel Research & Development Moshe Lichtman] said, for the first time officially, that "the R&D center helped Microsoft in buying the intellectual property of 3DV Systems, and in the wake of that dozens of the company's employees were recruited to work at the development center." . 2009-06-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090626051708/http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docView.asp?did=1000460733 . 2009-06-26 . Alt URL
23. News: Roche Acquires Insulin Pump Company Medingo. Diabetes Daily. 14 April 2010.
24. Web site: Hughes . Robin . Rafael unveils Rocks air-to-surface missile . Jane's 360 . 20 February 2019 . https://archive.today/20190220211407/https://www.janes.com/article/86679/rafael-unveils-rocks-air-to-surface-missile . 2019-02-20 . London . 20 February 2019 . live .
25. Web site: Ahronheim . Anna . Israel unveils Rafael's new advanced bunker buster missile, 'Rocks' . The Jerusalem Post . 20 February 2019 . https://archive.today/20190220211431/https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israel-unveils-Rafaels-new-advanced-bunker-buster-missile-Rocks-581201 . 2019-02-20 . 20 February 2019 . live .
26. News: 'Sharp Flame': Rafael's new rocket precision guidance system. Zitun, Yoav. Ynetnews. March 6, 2018. June 4, 2018.