Israel's Iron Beam laser air-defense operational next year, Rafael CEO confirms
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is making waves with its groundbreaking Iron Beam laser air defense system, which is set to enter operational service next year.
Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has reported a record backlog of orders of NIS 59 billion at the end of the second quarter. The orders include a significant and surprising rise in the Americas, and a slight fall in sales in Israel.
Rafael’s revenue in the second quarter was NIS 3.9 billion, up 25% from the corresponding quarter of 2023. New orders in the second quarter amounted to NIS 6.4 billion, up from NIS 3.9 billion in the second quarter of 2023.
Sales in Israel represented 54% of overall sales in the second quarter, down from 59% in the first quarter. Sales to Europe fell over this period from 20% to 19% and sales to Asia rose from 17% to 18%, while sales to the Americas jumped from 3% to 8%. The ZM website recently reported that Argentina is considering procuring Spike LR2 anti-tank missiles from Rafael and the rise could stem from such a sale.
“Since the start of the year we have hired more than 1,100 employees.”
Rafael CEO Yoav Tourgeman tells “Globes,” “Since the start of the year we have hired more than 1,100 employees. A third of our activity deals with development, we invest huge amounts of energy in determining the future.” Turgeman says that Rafael’s laser-based air defense system, Iron Beam is expected to enter operational service next year, as previously announced. “Iron Beam is just one of the developments that is progressing at a nice pace, and it has global technological breakthroughs.”
Anti-tank missile
A series of products that Tourgeman admits is arousing great interest overseas is the Spike anti-tank missile, in which, as reported, Argentina is also interested. The Spike series includes a variety of missiles starting with the shoulder-launched model (Spike SR), which weighs about 10 kilograms and has a range of up to 2 kilometers through to the Spike NLOS, which weighs 71 kilograms and has a range of up to 32 km and can be launched from land, air or sea platforms. The Spike series also includes the Firefly, a loitering munition weighing 15 kilograms and with a range of up to 1.5 kilometers, although most of the series are anti-tank missiles. “We are active in 41 countries with a Spike,” Tourgeman says. “There is a club for system users, with knowledge and experience passed around between each other.”
