Israel Aerospace Industries
Wholly state-owned Israeli aerospace and arms manufacturer, one of the three largest Israeli arms companies. Builds Heron and Heron TP drones, Harop loitering munitions, Arrow 3 interceptors, Barak air defence and the Israeli military's Ofek reconnaissance satellites. Runs a helicopter testing facility at Atarot airport in occupied East Jerusalem and a factory in the occupied Syrian Golan. Exports were 65% of first-quarter 2026 sales, and its chairman describes Germany as the company's closest partner in Europe.
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Apply pressure where it matters. Use these tools and personalise your message with evidence from this page.
- Write to IAI's Purchasers and FundersIAI is state-owned, so the templates address the governments and institutions that buy from it, host it or fund its research, and ask them to end the relationship. Sent to each individually, never jointly
- Report New IntelligenceHebrew-language filings, German and Indian procurement records and CORDIS grant data are the biggest gaps in this profile
- Share on LinkedInShare with procurement, research funding and defence policy contacts
- View Strategic AnalysisWhy there is no divestment route, and where the leverage actually sits
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Decision-Maker Directory
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Material Risk Framing
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IAI runs a helicopter testing facility at Atarot airport in occupied East Jerusalem and a factory producing military and commercial aircraft seats in the occupied Syrian Golan. On 19 July 2024 the International Court of Justice held Israel's continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful and settlements and their associated economic activity contrary to international law. On 16 September 2025 the UN Commission of Inquiry concluded that genocide is being committed in Gaza.
IAI has no consumer business and no shareholder but the Israeli government, so the exposure sits with its customers and hosts. Amnesty International named IAI in September 2025 among fifteen companies it asked to suspend all weapons sales and deliveries into Israel, and asked states to bar them from government contracts, trade shows and research grants. The UN Special Rapporteur named it in A/HRC/59/23. Germany's defence ministry, the State of Berlin and the European Commission carry that risk in IAI's place.
Record trading through the war on Gaza: revenue of USD 5.14 billion and net income of USD 484 million in the first nine months of 2025, the most profitable nine months in the company's history on its own account. The backlog reached USD 28.7 billion at the end of 2025 and USD 32.8 billion by March 2026. First-quarter 2026 revenue rose 30% and net income 34%. There is no listed equity and no share price to move, so exclusion is a matter of principle and legal risk.
Wholly state-owned and unlisted. The board named Guy Barlev chief executive on 21 July 2026, an appointment requiring approval from the Appointments Committee, the Israeli Minister of Defense and the Minister for Regional Development; Boaz Levy moved from chief executive to chairman in May 2026. European growth runs through Germany: Arrow 3 at Holzdorf, the German Heron TP in service, BlueWhale submersibles delivered to the German Navy, and a 14 June 2026 memorandum with the State of Berlin for an innovation centre and local production.
Strategic Analysis
In-depth assessment of the company's position, vulnerabilities, and recommended approaches for effective engagement.
High severity, lower vulnerability — requires long-term divestment pressure
Severity
10.0/10
(10 + 10) ÷ 2 = 10.0
Strategic Vulnerability
3.0/10
(3 + 3) ÷ 2 = 3.0
Learn about our methodology — companies are categorised based on severity (harm potential) vs strategic vulnerability (campaign leverage).
Why do these scores change?
Unlike static boycott lists, our targeting model is dynamic. This company's position on the matrix is re-evaluated continually as we verify new contracts, divestments, or policy changes. Your reporting directly impacts this score.
Israel Aerospace Industries builds the Heron and Heron TP drones, Harop loitering munitions (drones that circle an area and fly into a target), Arrow 3 interceptors and the Israeli military's reconnaissance satellites. Its chief executive told investors in November 2023 that its Heron drones had "played a pivotal role" in Israel's attacks on Gaza, including strike operations. It also builds inside the occupation: a helicopter testing facility at Atarot airport in occupied East Jerusalem, and a factory in the occupied Syrian Golan, Syrian land under Israeli military rule. On 19 July 2024 the International Court of Justice, the United Nations' principal judicial organ, held Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful. IAI is owned outright by the Israeli state, so there is no share to sell: pressure runs through the governments that buy from it, host it and fund it.
Key Leverage Points
- Ask every buyer to account for what IAI builds on occupied Palestinian land. IAI tests helicopters at Atarot airport in occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinian land under Israeli military occupation, and makes aircraft seats in the occupied Syrian Golan. On 19 July 2024 the International Court of Justice held that settlements and the economic activity attached to them are contrary to international law (sources). Put those two sites to the purchasing ministry in writing, and ask it to screen the supplier and not only the goods.
- Tell Germany what the seller said about the drones it flies. IAI's chief executive told investors in November 2023 that Heron drones had "played a pivotal role" in Israel's attacks on Gaza, including strike operations. Germany flies the German Heron TP, bought from that company. Write to the federal defence ministry and your Bundestag member with the company's own words, and ask them to end the programme.
- Ask the German defence ministry to answer Israel's claim about Arrow 3. Israel's defence ministry said the second Arrow 3 contract, worth USD 3.1 billion and signed on 17 December 2025, would "expand and accelerate Arrow production" for the Israeli military as well. Put that to the ministry in writing.
- Stop the Berlin innovation centre before it is built. On 14 June 2026 Berlin's Governing Mayor, Kai Wegner, signed a memorandum with IAI for an innovation centre and local production. A memorandum states an intention, not an order, so it can still be stopped. City councillors, unions and Berlin residents can demand it is not implemented.
- Ask your member of the European Parliament and your national research council to bar IAI from Horizon Europe. IAI has drawn more than EUR 10.7 million from Horizon 2020 and EUR 2.7 million from Horizon Europe, the European Union's research funding programmes, EUR 640,000 of it after 7 October 2023. Israel is an associated country in the programme and the Commission records no restriction, so the decision is the Commission's and the Parliament's to change.
Documented Impact
Human Rights Watch investigated six Israeli drone-launched missile strikes during Operation Cast Lead, an earlier Israeli assault on Gaza, which killed 29 Palestinian civilians, eight of them children, and found that in all six those struck were civilians. It identified the two drone types then carrying those missiles as the Heron, made by IAI, and the Hermes, made by Elbit Systems, and attributed no individual strike to either. On 16 September 2025 the UN Commission of Inquiry, a panel of independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, concluded that genocide is being committed in Gaza (sources).
IAI traded at record levels through that destruction. It reported revenue of USD 5.14 billion and net income of USD 484 million for the first nine months of 2025, the most profitable such period in its history on the company's own account. The order backlog reached USD 32.8 billion by March 2026. A backlog is production already sold: years of orders placed largely by governments that can each be named and written to. IAI's chairman calls Germany the company's "closest partners in Europe": Arrow 3, the largest defence export in Israel's history, the German Heron TP and BlueWhale submersibles for the German Navy. India co-develops and licence-produces the MRSAM air defence missile with IAI (timeline).
When the board named Guy Barlev chief executive on 21 July 2026, the appointment still required approval from the Appointments Committee, the Israeli Minister of Defense and the Minister for Regional Development. IAI has one shareholder, the Israeli government, and the Ministry of Defense is also its principal domestic customer: domestic sales were 35% of first-quarter 2026 revenue, and the Ministry launched the Ofek 19 reconnaissance satellite with IAI in September 2025.
Engagement Strategy
The routes are governmental and institutional, with a different ask for each.
- Purchasing governments. Write to defence procurement bodies and elected representatives in Germany, India, Thailand and other buying states. Ask on what basis each export licence was granted, and what due diligence was done on a company named by Amnesty International and by the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory.
- Public research funders. Press the European Parliament and national research councils to exclude IAI from Horizon Europe calls.
- Civil aviation customers. The airlines, cargo operators and lessors buying IAI's Boeing 777 freighter conversions can each end a supply relationship without losing a capability.
Evidence & Sources
Verified sources including NGO reports, regulatory filings, and primary documents. Use these to substantiate your correspondence. Entries marked First-hand were reported directly to this site and are published without identifying the source.
The board named Guy Barlev chief executive on 21 July 2026. The release states the appointment requires approval from the Appointments Committee, the Israeli Minister of Defense and the Minister for Regional Development. Barlev joined IAI in 2016 and served about six years as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Systems, Missiles and Space Group. Boaz Levy, chief executive until May 2026, is now chairman of the board. The clearest available demonstration that IAI's management is appointed through the Israeli government rather than by shareholders.
Open sourceBerlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner signed a memorandum with IAI to establish an aerospace and defence innovation centre in the city and to 'further increase the company's industrial presence in Berlin, including the development of local production capacities and the creation of highly skilled jobs'. No value disclosed. The release records that IAI already supplies Germany with Arrow 3 interceptors, Heron TP drones and BlueWhale autonomous submarines.
Open sourceIAI exhibited the Arrow 3 anti-ballistic system, Barak MX, the Mini Harpy loitering munition, tactical UAV solutions, observation and communications satellites and the BlueWhale autonomous underwater vehicle at ILA Berlin, 10 to 14 June 2026. The release records Arrow 3 as acquired by Germany in 2023 and delivered in 2024, the German Heron TP (GHTP) in service, and BlueWhale 'recently delivered to the German Navy'. Chairman Boaz Levy: 'Germany continues to be our closest partners in Europe.'
Open sourceThe company's own reporting. First-quarter 2026 revenue of USD 2.086 billion against USD 1.610 billion a year earlier, up 30%; net income USD 220 million, up 34%; operating income USD 239 million, up 45%; gross profit USD 374 million. Order backlog USD 32.8 billion against USD 28.7 billion at the end of 2025. Export sales USD 1.348 billion, 65% of the total, with the domestic market at USD 738 million, 35%. Military groups USD 1.825 billion, up 31%; Aviation Group USD 415 million, up 12%. Chairman Boaz Levy: 'We are proud to open the first quarter of 2026 with exceptional business results, reflecting the unique trust placed in IAI by our allies and customers in Israel and around the world.'
Open sourceGermany signed a second Arrow 3 contract worth USD 3.1 billion, covering increased production rates of interceptors and launchers, taking total German Arrow 3 contracts to about USD 6.6 billion. Israeli Ministry of Defense director-general Amir Baram said the deal 'will expand and accelerate Arrow production for the IDF as well'. IAI chief executive Boaz Levy: 'This strategic partnership will provide all of Europe with the most advanced air defense capability in the world.'
Open sourceIAI's own record of the handover of the Arrow 3 system to Germany, the largest defence export in Israel's history, on the day German forces activated the first elements at Holzdorf.
Open sourceGerman forces activated the first elements of the Arrow 3 long-range ballistic missile defence system at the Schoenewalde base south of Berlin on 3 December 2025, with further sites planned. Total project cost EUR 3.8 billion. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius: 'With this strategic capability, which is unique among our European partners, we are securing our central role at the heart of Europe.'
Open sourceIsrael Aerospace Industries is among the 104 businesses screened. DBIO V identifies 1,115 European financial institutions with relationships to those businesses, USD 310 billion in loans and underwriting between January 2023 and August 2025, and USD 1,503 billion in shares and bonds held at 31 August 2025. Research by Profundo; foreword by Francesca Albanese.
Open sourceRevenue of USD 5,137 million for the first nine months of 2025, up 17% year on year; net income USD 484 million, up 16%, described by the company as the most profitable nine-month period in its history; gross profit USD 954 million, 19% of sales; order backlog USD 26.5 billion; liquid assets USD 3.9 billion.
Open sourceNames fifteen companies, IAI among them. Amnesty describes IAI, Elbit Systems and Rafael as 'the three largest Israeli arms companies', which 'supply military and security goods and services worth billions of dollars to the Israeli military annually. These include surveillance and armed drones, loitering munitions, and border security systems that Israel has continuously used in its military offensive in Gaza and across the rest of the OPT.' Amnesty calls on them to suspend all sales and deliveries into Israel of weapons and other military, security and surveillance equipment, and on states to bar them from government contracts, trade shows and research grants.
Open sourceThe Commission concluded that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, finding that four of the five acts of genocide defined in the Genocide Convention were committed. The finding is confined to Gaza.
Open sourceNames Israel Aerospace Industries among the arms and military manufacturing entities examined. The report finds that 'arms companies have turned over near record profits by equipping Israel with cutting-edge weaponry that has devastated a virtually defenceless civilian population' (para. 89), and recommends that states impose 'sanctions and a full arms embargo on Israel, including all existing agreements and dual-use items' (para. 94) and that corporate entities 'promptly cease all business activities and terminate relationships directly linked with, contributing to and causing human rights violations and international crimes against the Palestinian people' (para. 95).
Open sourceThen chief executive Boaz Levy discusses record order intake and argues that a public offering is essential for the company. IAI remains wholly state-owned and unlisted, so no equity in it can be bought or sold.
Open sourceDescribes IAI as 'Israel's 2nd largest weapon company' which 'makes surveillance and killer drones and other weapon systems used against civilians', tagged Gaza Genocide, Settlement Industry, and Weapons and Military Equipment. Records that 'the company's MATA helicopter testing facility is located at the Atarot Airport in the occupied West Bank' and that 'the company has a factory producing seats for military and commercial aircraft in the occupied Golan Heights'. Records that on a November 2023 call with investors the IAI chief executive said Heron drones have 'played a pivotal role' in Israel's attacks on Gaza, including in strike operations. Also records Zibar tactical vehicles ordered for the Israeli military and ELTA North America's 2017 United States border wall prototypes.
Open sourceRecords that IAI has received EUR 640,000 in EU research funding since 7 October 2023, EUR 2.7 million under Horizon Europe overall and more than EUR 10.7 million under Horizon 2020, including EUR 1.4 million for the ResponDrone project developing drone 3D mapping technology.
Open sourceThe International Court of Justice found Israel's continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful, held settlements and their associated economic activity contrary to international law, and set out obligations on states in relation to trade and dealings with settlements. The governing authority for IAI's facilities at Atarot in occupied East Jerusalem.
Open sourceDocuments the ResponDrone consortium, which began in May 2019 with almost EUR 8 million of EU funding, of which 'Israel Aerospace Industries also received some EUR 1.4 million'.
Open sourceThe Commission's own record that Israel's association agreement to Horizon Europe was signed and entered into force on 6 December 2021. The page states no restriction, suspension or condition on Israeli participation, and Israel remains listed as a country associated to Horizon Europe. IAI is therefore eligible for EU research funding.
Open sourceInvestigates six Israeli drone-launched missile strikes during Operation Cast Lead which killed 29 civilians, eight of them children, and finds that in all six the Israeli military struck individuals who were all found to be civilians. Identifies the two Israeli drone types then carrying Spike missiles as 'the Hermes, produced by the Israeli company Elbit Systems Ltd., and the Heron, produced by Israeli Aerospace Industries'. The report does not attribute individual strikes to a particular platform.
Open sourceUpdates & Milestones
- New chief executive, subject to ministerial approval
The board names Guy Barlev chief executive on 21 July 2026. The appointment requires approval from the Appointments Committee, the Israeli Minister of Defense and the Minister for Regional Development. On 3 July India's Defence Acquisition Council approves further MRSAM systems for the Indian Army.
- UK guidance against economic activity in settlements
British government guidance is that no British citizen or business should conduct economic or financial activity in illegal Israeli settlements. IAI's helicopter testing facility at Atarot airport sits in occupied East Jerusalem, and it operates a factory producing military and commercial aircraft seats in the occupied Syrian Golan.
- Berlin signs a memorandum with IAI
At ILA Berlin, IAI exhibits Arrow 3, Barak MX, the Mini Harpy loitering munition and the BlueWhale autonomous underwater vehicle delivered to the German Navy, and its chairman describes Germany as the company's closest partner in Europe. On 14 June the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, signs a memorandum with IAI to establish an aerospace and defence innovation centre in the city and expand the company's local production there.
- Boaz Levy moves to chairman; record quarter
Boaz Levy moves from chief executive to chairman of the board. IAI reports first-quarter 2026 revenue of USD 2.086 billion, up 30%, net income of USD 220 million, up 34%, and an order backlog of USD 32.8 billion. Exports were 65% of sales.
- Arrow 3 handed to Germany, and a second contract signed
German forces activate the first Arrow 3 elements at Holzdorf on 3 December, on a project costed at EUR 3.8 billion. On 17 December Germany signs a second Arrow 3 contract worth USD 3.1 billion, taking the programme to about USD 6.6 billion. Israel's defence ministry says the deal will also expand and accelerate Arrow production for the Israeli military. India's Defence Acquisition Council separately clears more than 700 MRSAM missiles at about INR 30,000 crore.
- Most profitable nine months in company history
IAI reports revenue of USD 5.14 billion and net income of USD 484 million for the first nine months of 2025, and a record order backlog of USD 26.5 billion. In the same month Don't Buy Into Occupation V includes IAI among 104 businesses screened for European financial exposure.
- Amnesty names IAI among fifteen companies
Amnesty International names IAI as one of 'the three largest Israeli arms companies' supplying surveillance and armed drones, loitering munitions and border security systems used in Gaza and across the occupied Palestinian territory, and asks states to bar such companies from government contracts, trade shows and research grants. In the same month the UN Commission of Inquiry concludes that genocide is being committed in Gaza, and IAI and the Israeli Ministry of Defense launch the Ofek 19 reconnaissance satellite.
- Named in the UN Special Rapporteur's report
A/HRC/59/23, 'From economy of occupation to economy of genocide', names Israel Aerospace Industries among the arms and military manufacturing entities examined, and recommends a full arms embargo on Israel and the termination of corporate relationships linked to violations.
- Harop munitions used against Pakistan
India uses Israeli-origin loitering munitions including the IAI Harop against targets in Pakistani cities. Pakistan reports intercepting dozens of them.
- EU research funding to IAI documented
Reporting establishes that IAI has drawn more than EUR 10.7 million under Horizon 2020 and EUR 2.7 million under Horizon Europe, including EUR 640,000 awarded after 7 October 2023.
- ICJ rules the occupation unlawful
The International Court of Justice finds Israel's continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful and holds settlements and their associated economic activity contrary to international law. IAI's helicopter testing facility at Atarot airport sits in occupied East Jerusalem.
- ICJ orders provisional measures
In its order of 26 January 2024 the International Court of Justice found a real and imminent risk to the right of Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide, and ordered Israel to prevent them.
- IAI tells investors its drones played a pivotal role in Gaza
On a call with investors, IAI's chief executive says Heron drones have 'played a pivotal role' in Israel's attacks on Gaza, including in strike operations, as recorded by AFSC Investigate.
- Harop loitering munitions used in Nagorno-Karabakh
Azerbaijan uses IAI Harop loitering munitions extensively against Armenian air defences. An adviser to the Azerbaijani president publicly praises the system's effectiveness, including in GPS-jammed conditions.
- Human Rights Watch documents drone-launched strikes on civilians
Human Rights Watch investigates six Israeli drone-launched missile strikes during Operation Cast Lead which killed 29 civilians, eight of them children, and finds that in every case those struck were civilians. The report identifies the two Israeli drone types then carrying Spike missiles as Elbit's Hermes and the Heron produced by Israel Aerospace Industries.