Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. () is an Israeli defense technology company. It was founded as Israel's National R&D Defense Laboratory for the development of

weapon A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law ...

s and

military technology Military technology is the application of technology for use in warfare. It comprises the kinds of technology that are distinctly military in nature and not civilian in application, usually because they lack useful or legal civilian application ...

within the Israeli Ministry of Defense; in 2002 it was incorporated as a

limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...

History

Rafael was established in 1948 as the Science Corps (, known by the acronym HEMED, ) under the leadership of Shlomo Gur. It was renamed the Research and Design Directorate () in 1952. In 1952

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary List of national founders, national founder and first Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency ...

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. In 1954 Ben-Gurion decided to change the name of EMET to ''RAFAEL'' (). It was reorganized as Rafael in 1958. In 1995,

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

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. Horev served as chairman until January 2001.

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. The restructuring was completed in 2002 when Rafael was formally incorporated as a

(although still as a

government-owned corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

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

Notable products

* Python – an

air-to-air missile An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft (including unmanned aircraft such as cruise missiles). AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid-fuel roc ...

s system. * Spike – a fourth generation

fire-and-forget Fire-and-forget is a type of missile guidance which does not require further external intervention after launch such as illumination of the target or wire guidance, and can hit its target without the launcher being in line-of-sight of the tar ...

anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulde ...

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Popeye Turbo SLCM – believed to be a nuclear-tipped

submarine-launched cruise missile A submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM) is a cruise missile that is launched from a submarine (especially a SSG or SSGN). Current versions are typically standoff weapons known as land-attack missile, land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs), which a ...

* Iron Beam – laser missile defense system *

Iron Dome Iron Dome () is an Israeli mobile all-weather air defense system, developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. The system is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired f ...

– an air defense system to intercept short-range

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

s and

artillery shells A shell, in a modern military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. A shell c ...

TROPHY A trophy is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for sports, sporting events, ranging from youth sports to professional level athlet ...

– an

active protection system An active protection system (APS) is a system designed to actively prevent certain anti-tank weapons from destroying a vehicle. Countermeasures that either conceal the vehicle from or disrupt the guidance of an incoming guided missile threat are ...

for armored vehicles. * Protector USV – an

unmanned surface vehicle An unmanned surface vehicle, unmanned surface vessel or uncrewed surface vessel (USV), colloquially called a drone boat, drone ship or sea drone, is a boat or ship that operates on the surface of the water without a crew. USVs operate with v ...

(unmanned, autonomous naval combat system) *

David's Sling David's Sling (), also formerly known as Magic Wand (), is an Israel Defense Forces military system jointly developed by the Israeli defense contractor Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the American defense contractor Raytheon, that became ope ...

– surface-to-air missile system.

Civilian technology transfer

In 1993, Rafael Development Corporation (RDC), a

technology transfer Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform invent ...

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. The company established and developed several companies including: *

Given Imaging Given Imaging Ltd. (Hebrew: גיוון אימג'ינג) is an Israeli medical technology company that manufactures and markets diagnostic products for the visualization and detection of disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Until March 2014, ...

– focusing on capsule endoscopy technologies. * Oramir Semiconductor Equipment – a developer of laser cleaning technologies for the semiconductor industry, sold to

Applied Materials Applied Materials, Inc. is an American corporation that supplies equipment, services and software for the manufacture of semiconductor (integrated circuit) chips for electronics, flat panel displays for computers, smartphones, televisions, and ...

in 2001 for $21 million. * Starling Advanced Communications (

TASE The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE; ), colloquially known as The Bursa, is the only public stock exchange in Israel and a public company itself, listed on its own exchange since August 1, 2019. It is regulated by the ''Securities Law (1968)'' a ...

:STLG) – a provider of broadband wireless networking solutions for

airliner An airliner is a type of airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft. The largest ...

s. * Galil Medical – a developer of

cryotherapy Cryotherapy, sometimes known as cold therapy, is the local or general use of low temperatures in medical therapy. Cryotherapy can be used in many ways, including whole body exposure for therapeutic health benefits or may be used locally to treat ...

solutions. * 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 A time-of-flight camera (ToF camera), also known as time-of-flight sensor (ToF sensor), is a range imaging camera system for measuring distances between the camera and the subject for each point of the image based on time-of-flight, the round ...

products for

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

applications, sold to

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

.Alt URL
* 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 F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche (), is a Swiss multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on ...

's subsidiary Roche Diagnostics for $160 million as well as up to $40 million in milestone payments. Spyder missile system

Products

* Air Defense systems **

***

Tamir Tamir is a male Hebrew name תָּמִיר meaning 'tall'. A different Hebrew spelling, טמיר, means 'arcane' or 'secretive'. In Mongolian language, Mongolian, the name is translated as 'strength' or 'vigour'. A Tamir River, river in Mongol ...

, missile used by Iron Dome *** C-Dome (the naval version of Iron Dome) ** MIC4AD ** SPYDER **

** 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. * 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) * Active Protection System **

an active armor protection system, "Windbreaker" (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: מעיל רוח) * Remote-controlled weapon station ** Rafael OWS (nicknamed " MAG Rafael" by the IDF) ** Samson RCWS (

name: קטלנית) ** Typhoon Weapon Station for naval applications and military ships * Demining Systems ** Rafael Carpet

References

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

External links

*
Rafael Development CorporationRafael at EurpStory 2004Rafael UK
{{Coord, 32.8684, N, 35.0931, E, display=title, region:IL Government-owned companies of Israel Defense companies of Israel Companies based in Haifa 1948 establishments in Israel Companies established in 1948 Unmanned surface vehicle manufacturers Haifa in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict