Israel is the eighth country in the world for military exports, a 7.5 billion business

The figure refers to 2018, which marks a slight decrease compared to the 9.2 billion dollars of the previous year.  Ministry of Defense says the sector is "exceptionally strong" and represents one of the leading industries.  Most important clients are India, Azerbaijan and Vietnam.

 


 Tel Aviv (AsiaNews / Agencies) - In 2018 Israeli military exports exceeded 7.5 billion dollars with most of the production destined for countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

A spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Defense told AFP that last year, despite a slight decline compared to 9.2 billion in 2017, the arms sector was "exceptionally strong" and represents is a leading sector in the national industry.

The Stockholm-based international research institute for peace had placed Israel in the eighth place globally among arms exporters in 2017. Its most important customers are India, Azerbaijan and Vietnam, confirming a  predominance of Asian nations.

Without going into the details of the contracts, the Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement that the anti-missile and anti-aircraft defense systems represent 24% of sales in 2018. At the same time, unmanned aerial systems and drones make up 15% of the total;  followed by the radar and warning systems at 14%, the aircraft and the flight industry also at 14%.

"Last year - underlines the director of international cooperation of the Ministry of Defense Mishel Ben-Baruch - we signed dozens of contracts with different countries in the world".  "This testifies - added the expert - the willingness of an increasing number of nations to collaborate with the State of Israel, and their confidence in the excellent capabilities of our defense industries".

 As far as geographical areas are concerned, at the level of sales, Asia and the Pacific represent 46% of the total market; followed by Europe with 26%, 20% in North America, 6% in South America and 2% in Africa.