Rafael Advanced Defense Systems

Interviewed at the Farnborough Airshow, Yoav Tourgeman says he is very optimistic about completing a flotation by the end of 2026, while the Knesset has still to decide the listing venue, the size of the state's retained holding and the regulatory regime; he wants "as little burden from regulation as possible". Reports 30% year-on-year growth. On the boarding-up of Israeli stands at the Paris Air Show and Eurosatory he says: "For sure, we will not bend to the French government laws", and commits to returning, with litigation if necessary. Establishes both that Rafael exhibits at Western trade shows and that it treats host-state restrictions as something to be fought rather than complied with.

Romania's Ministry of National Defence, through the state procurement entity Romtehnica, signed on 24 June 2026 the first implementing contract under the EUR 2 billion framework agreement concluded with Rafael on 18 July 2025 for SPYDER short and very-short-range air defence, including mobile launchers, Python-5 and Derby interceptors, radar, training and logistics. Rafael describes the framework as the largest contract in its history.

At the Eurosatory land arms fair at Villepinte near Paris, held 15 to 19 June 2026, French authorities ordered the stands of twelve Israeli arms manufacturers sealed off on inspection, for non-compliance with conditions set by the French authorities and because equipment presented as defensive had dual-use applications. Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael were permitted to keep open stands but displayed no weapons. The action followed litigation by Al-Haq and partners that produced a 2024 Bobigny Tribunal ban on Israeli delegations, later overturned by the Paris Court of Appeal.

Chief executive Yoav Tourgeman, appointed February 2024, gives the order backlog as USD 24.5 billion, up 15% to an all-time high and about three years of sales, with roughly half of it export orders, and says Rafael grew at double the rate of Elbit Systems and IAI. Defends the delayed operational deployment of Iron Beam and sets out a two-stage flotation, institutional first and public afterwards, once confidentiality requirements are resolved.

Chairman Yuval Steinitz says Rafael's privatisation could begin as early as late 2026 and that the company is already working on it, with shares offered to institutional investors and funds in tranches. Reported plans involve the State of Israel selling a minority stake on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, with a United States listing under consideration alongside a parallel process for Israel Aerospace Industries.

Rafael is among the 104 businesses screened. DBIO V identifies 1,115 European financial institutions with financial 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.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense signed a contract with Rafael to accelerate serial production of Iron Dome interceptors and substantially increase deliveries to the Israeli military, drawing on the United States aid package approved in April 2024, of which USD 5.2 billion was allocated to air defence. Signed by Director General Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amir Baram.

Spain's parliament approved a total arms embargo on Israel, converting into law the Royal Decree-Law 10/2025 approved by the Council of Ministers on 23 September 2025, which established a national embargo on defence and dual-use goods in relation to Israel. Spain had already halted the licence of Rafael's Madrid subsidiary PAP Tecnos to produce 168 Spike LR2 systems, a EUR 285 million order, in June 2025, and cancelled a EUR 207 million order for Litening 5 targeting pods for 46 Eurofighter Typhoons in September 2025.

Names Rafael among fifteen companies. States that "the three largest Israeli arms companies – Elbit Systems and the state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and IAI – supply military and security goods and services worth billions of dollars to the Israeli military annually", and that these companies supply surveillance and armed drones, loitering munitions and border security systems used in Gaza and across the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory. Asks states to ban supplies of arms, military and security equipment and surveillance technology to Israel and to bar the named companies from public contracts and trade fairs; asks investors to use leverage and then divest.

The 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.

RUK Advanced Systems, the London-registered Rafael subsidiary selling urban warfare missiles, wound down its UK operations while the parliamentary standards commissioner investigated its funding of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Defence Technology, established in November 2024. The rules prohibit APPG funding directly or indirectly by a foreign government; the group closed. The company deleted its website and its office was found empty.

Records two Rafael subsidiaries in the UK: RUK Advanced Systems, selling urban combat missiles and torpedoes, and Pearson Engineering in Newcastle, supplying armoured vehicle equipment and minefield breaching systems. Notes Rafael has delivered and maintained the Sky Sabre air defence system with Babcock since 2017, with units in the Falkland Islands; that Spike missiles have been used to target individuals inside buildings in Gaza and were linked to an April 2024 attack on humanitarian workers; that the Matador rocket has been linked to attacks in Gaza; and that the SightX joint venture develops unmanned vehicles using AI to locate people inside buildings. Also records that RUK Advanced Systems funded an all-party parliamentary group and that a former UK defence secretary was appointed chair of Pearson Engineering shortly after the acquisition.

The primary product-level record. Tagged Gaza Genocide and Weapons and Military Equipment. Describes Rafael as a large Israeli state-owned weapons manufacturer making missiles, drones and other systems for the Israeli military, and documents: Spike guided missiles used to target people inside buildings in Gaza from the air and the ground; the Matador (RGW 90) infantry rocket made by Rafael subsidiary Dynamit Nobel Defence and used to destroy buildings from the ground; the Orbiter 4 drone first used operationally in Gaza on 8 November 2023; the Trophy active protection system enabling Israeli tanks to operate in Gaza; and the Spark unmanned ground system. Page valid as of 1 May 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. The legal framework on which procurement, export licensing and institutional exclusion decisions rest.

Describes SightX, the 50:50 joint venture with Rafael formed in 2020, developing autonomous drones and a legged ground robot using AnyVision computer vision to scan buildings, detect whether individuals are armed, and identify people by face. The reporting does not state that the drones are themselves armed.

The UK Ministry of Defence signed a GBP 78 million contract with Rafael on 9 January 2017 to develop the battle management, command, control, communications, computers and intelligence system for what became Sky Sabre, delivered with Babcock. Sky Sabre's total contracted value at that point was about GBP 148 million. The system was first deployed to the Falkland Islands and later entered British Army service.