The firm from Haifa is a global market leader in drones and broadly positioned in the business of military technology. It profits from worldwide rearmament – and from wars such as in Gaza.
Elbit Systems, based in Haifa, is Israel’s largest arms company and firmly anchored in the global trade in military technology. The firm produces mainly drones, combat turrets and chassis for armoured vehicles, as well as reconnaissance and defence systems. Well known – and in this segment one of the world market leaders – is Elbit Systems for its Hermes drones, available in both reconnaissance and combat versions. They have been used by the Israeli military in Gaza since the early 2000s, and the company markets them as ‘battle tested’. Most recently they were said to have played a key role in the success of Israel’s unlawful twelve-day war against Iran.
In addition, the company has developed multi-rotor drones and sea drones for surface and underwater missions. These remote-controlled systems are used for mine detection or special operations. Elbit has also established itself in the field of electronic warfare, cybersecurity and military simulations. This includes systems for the protection of critical infrastructure, equipment for military communication and command support, as well as portable or stationary jammers for drone defence. For ground troops, Elbit Systems offers not only conventional weapons but also systems for digital networking of soldiers, optical and radar-based sensors and solutions to enhance the performance of tanks and other vehicles.
The publicly listed company sells its products in dozens of countries, including many in Europe. Drones from Elbit Systems are used in Brazil, the Philippines and Azerbaijan – the newer Hermes 900 also in Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Colombia. Their uses include border surveillance, as in Switzerland, where the costly procurement process has repeatedly faltered. Elbit and its Swiss partner RUAG repeatedly failed to meet contractual milestones. In early September the military decided to procure the drone without the required systems for GPS-independent take-off and landing and without an automatic collision-avoidance system. This means the Swiss Hermes 900 cannot, as originally planned, operate in civilian airspace but only in reserved zones. Safety is not guaranteed: several Hermes 900 have already crashed – including during a mission for the EU border agency Frontex on Crete.
Founded in 1966, the company maintains subsidiaries on four continents – except Africa. It regularly acquires other firms. In 2018 Elbit took over the formerly state-owned Israel Military Industries and privatised it; until then the company belonged to the Israeli Ministry of Defence. As early as 2004 Elbit acquired Telefunken Racoms GmbH in Ulm; the official renaming to Elbit Systems Germany did not take place until 2020. Today there are four sites in Germany, two of them with production.
Among other things, the company supplies the German Bundeswehr with rocket launchers to replace artillery systems handed over to Ukraine. These can also be fitted with loitering munitions. Digital communications systems, sensors, radar warning systems and decoy dispensers for helicopters are also supplied to the German army. A comparable contract for a laser-based countermeasure system to protect Bundeswehr aircraft was recently renewed. In addition, this year Elbit Systems began deliveries of 315 vertical take-off reconnaissance drones to the Austrian armed forces.
Elbit Systems profits from the current militarisation as well as from the war in Gaza, now ongoing for almost two years. In the second quarter of 2025 the company recorded an order backlog equivalent to €22 billion – around two-thirds of it from abroad.
But Elbit Systems also faces headwinds at state level due to its involvement in the Gaza war. At the Paris Air Show in June, the French government cordoned off four exhibition areas of Israeli arms and aerospace companies after they had been set up. The reason given was that the firms had been instructed not to display offensive weapons. In addition to Elbit Systems, Rafael, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Uvision also disregarded the order.
Published in German in ‘nd’.
Image: Elbit drone at exhibition (Tangopaso, CC BY-SA 3.0).
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