How Israel’s Arms Manufacturers Won the Gaza War
Iron Dome may have been the star performer during Operation Protective Edge, but the big international sellers may be the Tamuz missile and the Windbreaker system.
The links between Israel’s three largest defense contractors – Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems – and the Israel Defense Forces are very tight. The IDF needs the defense industries to develop weapons systems on its behalf, but since the IDF is a small army in international terms and the defense contractors need to make a profit and stand on their own two feet (even if they are government owned), they need to sell in the large international defense markets – where the products are scrutinized partly on the uses the IDF makes of them on the battlefield.