Israel's competitive-edge highlighted by global walk (unlike global talk)

By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger

1. According to Defense News, "Touted by US and Israeli officials as a new milestone in decades-long defense-industrial cooperation, state-owned Israel Aerospace Industry (IAI) inaugurated a production line on Tuesday to provide wings for Lockheed Martin-produced F-35 joint strike fighters. Under an estimated $2.5bn industrial cooperation deal, the new facility at IAI's Lahav Division will produce up to 811 wing sets through 2030 at a rate of four per month. Current plans are earmarking Israeli-built wings for fighters on order for the US and Israeli Air Forces and future export customers…. The decision to entrust IAI with critical wing builds follows three decades of successful cooperation on the F-16 and T-38 programs…. It takes [bilateral] cooperation to a new level and launches a new era in shared commitment…. Israel-built wings for the F-35 along with the selection of [Israel's] Elbit Systems for helmet-mounted displays are a show of strength and growing strategic ties…. The new facility [said IAI's Chairman] will establish IAI as a global center of excellence for wing companies."

2. 2014 has been a record year (and it's not over yet): $3.6bn have been raised by 26 Israeli companies on the New York Stock Exchange in initial, and secondary, public offerings, compared with $335mn in 1994 (Globes, October 31, 2014).

3.  2014 has been a record year (and it's not over yet): $3.5bn invested by global companies (such as Pratt and Whitney, Qualcomm, 3D Systems, Erickson, Google and Yahoo) in the acquisition of Israeli companies (Globes, October 31).  In addition, Israel's DiWip was acquired by Canada's Imperus Technologies for $100mn (Globes, October 20). France's Publicis acquired a 25% controlling interest in Israel's Matomy for $82mn (Globes, Oct. 14).

4.  Jordan concluded a $15bn, 15 year contract with Houston's Noble Energy for the supply of natural gas from the offshore Leviathan field in Israel (Globes, September 4). Turkey and Israel explore the possibility of constructing a natural gas pipeline from Israel's offshore fields to Turkey.

5.  Israel's Rafael won a $525mn bid to supply India with over 8,000 laser-guided, man-portable, anti-tank Spike missiles and more than 300 launchers (Asian Defense News, October 24, 2014).  Israel has emerged as the second largest supplier of military systems to India, the world's largest arms buyer, $10bn during the recent decade (Israel-India Defense Cooperation, the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies).  Rafael will introduce, at the annual EuroNaval show in France, its unique C-Dome missile defense system, the naval "Iron Dome," protecting naval vessels and installations (Globes, October 27).  Israel's Elbit won an $85mn bid to refurbish F-5 combat planes of an Asian country.  Previously, similar contracts were signed with Brazil and Turkey (Globes, Oct. 23).

6.  Israel's ISDS won a $2.2bn bid for the management/integration of the security system in the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil (Globes, October 23).

7.  China has expanded investments in Israel's high tech sector. For example, the China's GoCapital venture capital fund invested $12.5mn in Israel's CNoga, known for its non-invasive technologies (Globes, Oct. 28).  Shanghai GEOC, Hengtong Investment and Fortune China invested $12.5mn in Israel's Insightec (Globes, Sept. 15).  China's Fosun Pharma led a $12mn round of private placement – joined by GE Healthcare – by Israel's Check-Cap (Globes, Oct. 20).