Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is one of the three largest military companies in the country along with Rafael and Elbit Systems (which, by the way, about three years ago purchased Israel Military Industries Corporation (IMI), formerly also one of the major players in this sphere).
In the early years of its existence, IAI’s activities were concentrated in the aviation field. Over the years, however, it has successfully expanded into developing high quality weapons in other areas as well: on the ground, on the sea, in the cyberspace and in the space.
To this day, however, the area in which IAI continues to be a leader in Israel, while also sustaining its reputation as one of the world’s top centers, is the development of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Among the company’s vast range of products are the famous “Hez” (Arrow) anti-missile system, “Amos” communications satellites and “Ofek” reconnaissance satellites, bombs and guided missiles of various types, protection and counteraction systems for multicopters, as well as drones, navigation and photo imaging systems, optical systems, lasers, reconnaissance and electronic listening aircraft, “Dvora” and “Super Dvora” patrol boats, robotic ground vehicles (serving the border with the Gaza Strip), radar systems, electronic reconnaissance, control and management, communications, electronic warfare systems and much more...
IAI products are exported and used in over 100 countries around the world!
And now, IAI recently announced a strategic partnership to convert military technology through a cooperation agreement signed with another Israeli company, SixAI.
The partnership will focus on adapting IAI’s existing military technologies to civilian market needs, and adopting and marketing them through SixAI.
In the first phase, the activities of the new partnership will primarily focus on the conversion of the military technologies in three main areas:
1. clean “green” energy, including technologies for its production, extraction and storage.
2. Implementation of high-tech systems in production and other spheres (what is called the Fourth Industrial Revolution) — i.e. optimization of connections between machines (M2M), automation of production lines, introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT — connections between various household and other devices) to increase automation, monitoring and control by mechanized means and production of intelligent machines which will automatically analyze and diagnose problems without the need of human involvement.
3. Supervision and control of the commercial multicopters operations at low altitudes, in particular the supervision of commercial platforms, especially in urban environments, including training and briefing of operators.
According to IAI CEO Boaz Levy, “The partnership was a practical implementation of IAI’s new business strategy to leverage the company’s unique technological capabilities in the civilian domain.”
Of course, this process of converting military to civilian technology is another remarkable realization of the vision of the prophets, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares” (Yeshayahu 2:4), describing the transformation of tools of war into tools of agriculture.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe King Moshiach SHLITA emphasized the fulfillment of this prophecy in our time, at the edge of the Redemption, as one of the clear signs of the coming Redemption. Indeed, in recent years we have seen more and more military technology being applied to civilian spheres. And sometimes it fits so harmoniously into everyday life that it is hard to recall its original “military” essence.
For example, today few people remember that GPS was once an American military secret navigation system. Today it can be found practically in every cell phone...
And who even remembers that the Internet was actually created as an American military computer communications project? And, in fact, the main networks, which became the basis for the entire Internet, were first linked by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense — DARPA.
Similarly, the fulfillment of this particular prophecy at the edge of coming Redemption is the internal and spiritual origin of the fact that the Israeli military industry giant IAI is now announcing its new strategy — the conversion of military technology into civilian technology.