Israel Turns Hundreds of Startups Into Real-Time Defense Tech Under IDF Needs

The Times of Israël military correspondent Stav Levaton described how war forced Israel’s tech and defense sectors to unite, transforming an “informal relationship” into “a central pillar of Israel’s defense strategy” as “hundreds of startups” began providing capabilities to meet IDF needs in real time.

“Foreign media reports reflect the popularity of Israeli air defense systems in the Gulf, with Iron Dome, the Iron Beam laser system and a drone detector all helping protect the United Arab Emirates”

Haaretz

Major General (Ret.) Amir Baram, the Defense Ministry’s Director-General, said, “For years, Israel was known around the world as a cyber nation,” adding that Israel has become a “tech-defense nation” whose innovations cover “air defense systems, drones, electronic warfare, quantum-resistant communications, intelligence and surveillance systems, cyber defense, and space technologies.”

Haaretz

The DefenseTech Summit at Tel Aviv University, organized by the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Research and Development, highlighted the Innofense program launched in 2019, which provides initial funding including “subsidies of 200,000 shekels,” and the ministry’s work with “more than 300 startups.”

Hamutal Meridor, president and co-founder of Kela Technologies, said, “We are at war, we do not have the luxury of waiting,” and argued that “What we lack are fast, open ecosystems,” while Reuters-style battlefield urgency was echoed through the claim that startups “operate at the same pace as the battlefield.”

The article also linked the ecosystem to Unit 8200 of the Intelligence Corps, describing how computer prodigies develop “cutting-edge technological innovations” that are “reinjected into the military circuit” through direct feedback loops between troops, engineers, and industrial partners.

Haaretz and TheMarker data obtained through freedom of information requests, as described by عرب 48 and برلمان.كوم, said Israel’s Defense Export Control Department granted export licenses for air defense systems to 20 countries in 2025, compared with seven in 2024 and 12 in 2023.

The same reporting said marketing licenses rose to 74 countries in 2025 from 56 in 2024 and 19 in 2023, and it framed the shift as tied to Defense Ministry policy and a reform led by Amir Baram.

Masrawy

Hedye Negev, director-general of the Freedom of Information Movement, warned that “the committee that approves defense exports of advanced technologies and weapons from Israel to the world operates in the shadows,” and added that “the grim figure revealed shows that the committee acts as a rubber stamp, approving more than 99% of defense export applications.”

The برلمان.كوم article placed Morocco among buyers of IAI’s Barak system and said Haaretz attributed the export push to an estimated 20% rise in Israeli military sales, now valued at $18 billion for 2025.

It also reported that of 6,648 requests for military export licenses filed in 2025, only 19 were rejected by Tel Aviv, while cancellations were described as 99 licenses withdrawn in 2025 compared with 174 in 2024.

Haaretz said the market for Israeli air defense systems has expanded “from Morocco to Azerbaijan” as Israel issues more export licenses, and it linked the Gulf demand to Iron Dome, the Iron Beam laser system, and a drone detector protecting the United Arab Emirates.

“Stav Levaton is the Times of Israel's military correspondent”

The Times of Israël

Axios was cited for deploying the short-range Iron Dome in the UAE during the current war with Iran, while The Financial Times was cited for the Emiratis buying Iron Beam from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and for Elbit Systems rushing the Spectro drone detection system to the UAE.

The article also said Germany expanded its deal to acquire the long-range Arrow system made by Israel Aerospace Industries, while Slovakia, Cyprus, Azerbaijan and Morocco bought IAI’s Barak air defense system.

A senior official in the defense sector was quoted saying, “you can get an export license for five countries and close only one deal,” even as the reporting projected that Rafael and IAI exports jumped 25 percent last year and that Israel’s total defense exports are expected to reach $18 billion for 2025.

Haaretz further tied the export momentum to the Defense Ministry’s more lenient policy on such sales, part of a reform led by Amir Baram, and it said about 70 percent of Israel’s defense production is exported.