Unit 81 ( he, יחידה 81, "Unit eight - one") is a secret technology unit part of the Special Operations Division of the Military Intelligence Directorate, an independent service of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

(IDF). The unit focuses on building and supplying cutting-edge technologies to Israeli combat soldiers and spies. It often related to the

Unit 8200 Unit 8200 ( he, יחידה 8200, ''Yehida shmone -Matayim''- "Unit eight - two hundred") is an Israeli Intelligence Corps unit of the Israel Defense Forces responsible for collecting signal intelligence (SIGINT) and code decryption. Military pu ...

responsible for signal intelligence (SIGINT) and code decryption.

History

The origin of the unit is unknown. The unit existed since at least the early days of the

State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in 1948 and was referred to as the "Intelligence Branch 8" but must have existed in some form long before the establishment of the country in

Shai Shai (also spelt Sai, occasionally Shay, and in Greek, Psais) was the deification of the concept of fate in Egyptian mythology. As a concept, with no particular reason for associating one gender over another, Shai was sometimes considered femal ...

the secret service of the underground Jewish defense forces

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

under the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

. The unit was then responsible for the development of special technologies and the training of the operators and agents responsible for operating them. It was later called Unit 432.

Operations

All operations of the unit are highly classified. The unit consists mainly of military personnel, but civilians also serve in the unit including highly qualified experts in unique fields such as

quantum physics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, qua ...

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

, and

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

. Among other things, the unit develops advanced

cyberwarfare Cyberwarfare is the use of cyber attacks against an enemy state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, manipulation or economic war ...

weapons, tools for SIGINT, and combat systems used by the

Sayeret Matkal General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (formerly Unit 269 or Unit 262), more commonly known as Sayeret Matkal ( he, סיירת מטכ״ל) is the special reconnaissance unit (''sayeret'') of Israel's General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, General ...

the most elite

special forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

unit of the IDF that is also part of the Special Operations Division.

Achievements

The unit was awarded 38

Israel Defense Prize The Israel Defense Prize (Hebrew: פרס בטחון ישראל), also known as the Israel Defense Award is an award presented annually by the President of Israel to people and organizations who made significant contributions to the defense of the ...

s and a Chief of Staff Medal of Appreciation. It is the most decorated unit in the IDF. According to a 2021 report by the Israeli business newspaper ''

Calcalist ''Calcalist'' ( he, כלכליסט, a Hebrew wordplay on ''The Economist'', from כלכלה) is an Israeli daily business newspaper and website. History and profile ''Calcalist'' was first published on 18 February 2008, and currently runs five d ...

'' in the last decade alone 100 veterans of the unit have founded 50 technology companies having raised US$4 billion with their accumulated valuations surpassing US$10 billion.

Unit Commanders

References

{{Reflist Military units and formations of Israel Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel)

History

Operations

Achievements

Unit Commanders

See also

References