"Shooting a Shell Without an Advanced Fuze Is Like Burning Money"

Aryt Industries is one of Israel’s leading companies in the field of electronic fuzes for combat. Aryt, through its subsidiary, Reshef Technologies, manufactures electronic fuzes for the Israeli market and globally that offer the advanced and precise activation of portable explosive charges such as mortar bombs, shells and missiles.

"The company was founded back in the late 1970s," explains the company's CEO, Haim Steffler. "Electronic fuzes are the most reliable, accurate and durable, making them the preferred solution for modern armies. Naturally, customers need as high accuracy as possible. Electronic fuzes of the most advanced generation allow full control over operation of the charger. In the past, shells or missiles would hit the ground and explode – but today they can be made to explode intelligently. This means that the damage produced by each shell is multiplied many times over, thus increasing the effectiveness of the ammunition itself."

A significant advantage in the development of new products
The world of fuzes consists of three main types: a proximity fuze – which is activated at a height above the ground, a time fuze – which is activated at a predetermined timing after launch, and a percussion fuze – which activates the ammunition for a predetermined period of time after hitting the target.

"The bomb itself is ultimately made of explosives and iron," says Steffler. "What makes it smart is the fuze. The more you perfect the fuze and operate in a smarter way, you can improve the ammunition’s performance. If you fired a shell that costs thousands of dollars without attaching a smart fuze to it – most likely you wasted expensive ammunition. The smarter the fuze, the better it works."

Since its establishment, Reshef Technologies has positioned itself as a leading and advanced player in the field of smart fuzes; Aryt is the holding company and Reshef Technologies engages in the development and production work. "Our fuzes are able to activate the ammunition in the most precise way – both in terms of proximity and of timing," he adds. "We are currently working on a new generation of fuzes that use advanced technologies and allow the shell itself to be operated more precisely than ever before.

"There is a global effort to achieve optimal results and we are a significant part of this race," emphasizes the CEO. "We have been gaining experience since the late 1970s, and so have an extensive pool of knowledge at our disposal that gives us a major advantage in developing new products. The company's experience and history provide us with the best tools to be innovative."

Among other things, development efforts at Reshef Technologies are currently focused on improving safety: that is, increasing the percentage of performance when using the ammunition. "In recent years we have focused on constantly upgrading our basic fuze in order to give it better performance and efficiency rates.”

According to Steffler, the world of fuzes is constantly undergoing technological changes. "I myself served in the artillery corps and I remember very well the hand fuzes during that time," he recalls with a smile. "Today everything works with completely electronic methods. In the past you had to manually aim each fuze – today it’s all done in a controlled manner. At Aryt we’ve developed a product for aiming the fuzes on demand, an element that dramatically reduces the time needed to aim and also ensures accuracy."

A million fuzes for the Indian Army
Aryt Industries operates in the defense industry, which for years been considered one of the most stable markets in the world, one that enjoys constant growth rates. A large-scale arms race has recently begun around the world in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in which Ukraine has been using about 150,000 shells every month for the past year and is depleting all the ammunition stocks of the Western countries. For example, the United States pulled hundreds of thousands of shells from its emergency warehouses all over the world. Many countries across the globe have substantially increased their defense budgets, which has increased the market’s growth and opportunities for expansion.

Aryt's main customers are the IDF and the Indian Army. The company has had a long-standing partnership with the BEL company of the Indian Ministry of Defense. Aryt assisted its Indian partner in setting up a factory to assemble fuzes and regularly provides technical assistance in the production and supply of fuze components.

BEL (in partnership with Reshef) is the main supplier of the Indian Army and delivers tens of millions of dollars in orders. "In 2015, we signed an agreement with BEL to help them with everything related to fuze solutions," Steffler says. "To date, BEL has supplied about a million fuzes to the Indian army, all with our backing and assistance."

Lately, one of Reshef’s biggest achievements was winning a sizable tender from the Indian Ministry of Defense amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, with Reshef's share in the tender in the amount of 170-190 million dollars. "There was a major breakthrough after BEL won a huge tender for a period of ten years, which will bring us projects of some tens of millions of shekels every year for the next decade. Winning the tender is based on our technical advantages. Reshef's technical capabilities gave the Indian Army the confidence that it was worthwhile to work with us."

The Reshef factory is located in the city of Sderot, where it provides a livelihood for many local residents; it receives tax benefits and priority in receiving orders for companies working to strengthen industry in the periphery. Aryt recently announced that, after winning the tender in India, it has begun a major expansion of the factory in Sderot.

Expanding activity into new areas
Since 1982, Aryt Industries has been a public company traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The company’s CEO emphasizes that Aryt has not had to raise debt or capital in recent years thanks to the company's positive cash flow. "We manage with our equity. Of course, the fact that we are traded on the stock exchange gives us the option to raise debt if needed, but our revenues from Aryt's long-term customers make us very stable on a financial level, even during periods of market fluctuations."

Recently, Aryt has been working on finding new investments in other fields and expanding its current activity with fuzes. Beyond its efforts to maximize the potential in the Indian market, Aryt is working on locating other strategic projects. Recently, it even announced its first investment in the field of solar energy in order to develop advanced solar energy systems.

In collaboration with Aryt Industries