The war in Europe between Russia and Ukraine has, in the last year, brought Israeli defense exports to an all-time high with a huge series of approved transactions amounting to approximately 12.5 billion dollars, or approximately 45 billion shekels. From the Ministry of Defense data, published Thursday morning for the first time, it appears that the scope of defense exports doubled in less than a decade and completed a jump of about 50 percent in just three years. It also appears that about a quarter of the contracts signed in 2022 are in the field of drones and other unmanned aircraft. However, the game-changing statistic in all the data appears to be that nearly a full 25% of all sales were to Arab states, a feat that seemed almost impossible to achieve just a few decades ago.
It seems that two reasons are behind the record, one, as mentioned, is the war in Ukraine which causes the whole world to invest in defense procurement. The second reason is the Abraham Accords, which opened a window for countries that previously did not make direct deals with Israel such as Morocco and Bahrain.
Abraham Accords countries gave a boost to the State of Israel's defense exports. https://t.co/IeRmCi0jdQ
— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) June 15, 2023
This is the highest figure ever and the second year in a row that a new record has been set in the scope of signing new contracts. During the year, about 120 defense companies, with the assistance and support of the departments of the Ministry of Defense, were able to sign hundreds of significant contracts around the world, including mega deals in the scope of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant commented on the achievement and said that "The global changes have created a great demand for the Israeli technologies that have become a household name in the world, and we predict that this trend will continue and intensify in the coming year as well."
Arab states make up 24% of Israel’s 2022 arms exports including drones
— Joshua Landis (@joshua_landis) June 14, 2023
Israel’s defense industry exports in 2022 reached $12.5 billion, the highest since the establishment of the state of Israel
By @RinaBassist https://t.co/8itCxIw9yp via @AlMonitor
In recent years, the Ministry of Defense has defined defense exports as a mission with the utmost importance, to which central departments in the ministry have focused much of their energy. The Ministry of Defense led a national effort to expand defense exports to new markets, reduce regulation, and remove bureaucratic barriers. In addition, the ministry made an intensive effort internationally, focusing on strengthening strategic ties and export agreements between ministries of defense. The cooperation between the Ministry and the defense industries is manifested in a sharp increase in the scope of signing new contracts, for the third year in a row. All this is under strict international laws.
#Israel's military-industrial complex exports mostly to #Arab Countries.#Israel exported $12.556 billion worth of defense products last year, with new Arab partners under the #US-sponsored #AbrahamAccords.
— Dana Levi דנה🇮🇱🇺🇸🇬🇧 (@Danale) June 14, 2023
2022 figures have doubled over the previous decade. Unmanned aerial… pic.twitter.com/Gptl16OWbj
One of the records is recorded in the scope of defense exports of drones, where a 10-fold jump was recorded in export transactions between the defense ministries, half of the contracts are considered “mega deals” amounting to more than 100 million dollars. The scope of defense exports to the countries of the Abraham Accords reached about 3 billion dollars in the past year.
