IAI is an Israeli aerospace and defence technologies firm. Based in Lod, it was founded in 1953 and is fully owned by the Israeli government. In 2024, IAI was preparing to make an initial public offering on the Tel Aviv stock exchange, pending government approval.
The company is divided into four business segments: ELTA Systems (focused on radar, intelligence, and electronic systems), Systems Missiles & Space, Military Aircraft, and Aviation. It posted 2024 sales of US$ 6.1 billion. It employs 16,000 staff.
Though the Israeli military is its primary customer, Singapore, India and Azerbaijan have been highlighted as particularly significant international markets for IAI, according to Intelligence Online. IAI has subsidiaries in the US, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, India, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, Germany, Vietnam, China, Thailand, the Philippines, and the UK.
Drones
IAI produces a range of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). These include the Heron, Heron TP, and Heron MK II medium altitude long endurance drones, primarily used for surveillance and reconnaissance. Its strike drones include the Tactical Heron, BirdEye650D, WanderB-VTOL, APUS 25 and ThunderB-VTOL. All have been used in Israel’s conflict in the Palestinian territories. The IDF uses IAI’s Caesaron underwater drones off the coast of Lebanon to monitor Hezbollah, Intelligence Online reports.
IAI exports its drones abroad. Heron drones have been used by the Indian Air Force. The Portuguese navy was testing IAI’s BlueWhale underwater surveillance drone in 2024, Intelligence Online reports.
Loitering munitions
IAI produces loitering munitions. Loitering munitions are drones equipped with warheads that loiter in an area until a target is designated, then collide with it. IAI claims it was the first to invent this type of weapon in the 1980s. Its current HAROP loitering munition, “operates in a concept of ‘shoot first and then seek a target’… delivering 98% of mission success.” It also produces a miniature loitering munition, the MINI HARPY, and a vertical take off and loitering munition, the ROTEM Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) loitering munition. IAI exports its loitering munitions abroad. For example, the Azerbaijani military uses its HAROP and HARPY munitions in its conflict with Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Estonia has purchased IAI loitering munitions.
Missiles and missile defence systems
IAI produces a range of missiles and anti-missile technologies. These include, for example, the Rampage long-range assault rocket and the Barak XM missile defence system. Customers have included Slovakia, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Morocco and the UAE. In 2022, IAI signed an MOU with the Moroccan army to supply a Barak MX missile defence system. In 2024, Slovakia agreed to purchase the same, as did Colombia in 2023. The UAE procured a missile defence system from IAI in 2022.
IAI co-developed the Barak MRSAM air defense system with India’s Ministry of Defence. It completed operational trials in April 2025. India successfully used Rampage missiles co-developed by IAI and IMI Systems in its recent conflict with Pakistan.
Special mission aircraft
In 2023, IAI was developing “survivable, high-altitude airborne early warning and control aircraft” for the South Korean Air Force alongside L3Harris Technologies and Korean Air.
Radars and defence electronics
IAI produces a range of radar systems, primarily through its subsidiary ELTA. For example, IAI developed Israel’s Sky Dew (Tal Shamaim) programme with the US Missile Defense Agency. It consists of a high-altitude aerostat system with an advanced radar to detect long-range missiles and aircraft and was launched in 2024. IAI with Babcock was developing a long-range radar for the UK Ministry of Defence’s Serpens program in 2022. ELTA has delivered ELM-2288ER Ad-Star military radars to the Philippine Air Force, Intelligence Online reports.
Space
In March 2025, Israeli media reported that IAI had signed a contract to sell geospatial surveillance satellites to Vietnam. In 2024, IAI won a contract to build Morocco’s next geospatial observation satellite.
Controversies
Israel and the Palestinian territories
IAI is deeply embedded in the operations of its primary customer, the IDF, and IAI technologies are ubiquitous throughout Israel’s military campaigns. IAI staff “are frequently embedded on military bases, providing real-time support for UAVs and intelligence aircraft,” the IDF acknowledges.
For example, IAI reports that its technologies were “at the heart” of Israel’s June 2025 missile operation against Iran. The Israeli Air Force’s 114th Drone Squadron has extensively used the Skylark drone in Gaza. Skylark was developed by Israeli arms company Elbit Systems, and it relies on IAI’s optronic pod. IAI’s Ofeq-13 satellite has been used to identify potential tunnel entrances and exits in the rubble in Gaza.
Myanmar
In April 2017, IAI delivered two of four Super-Dvora Mk III fast attack craft frigates to the Myanmar Navy. The sale was criticised on account of the Myanmar army’s actions against the Rohingya people. Following a decision by the Israeli Supreme Court, military export licenses were later revoked, according to a report by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar.
Border control
In 2020, IAI received a joint € 50 million contract with Airbus from the EU border agency Frontex to operate drones for “maritime aerial surveillance services” in the Mediterranean.
Corruption scandals
IAI recently faced scrutiny in Argentina, where the Argentine Anti-Corruption Office is investigating the 2016 procurement by the Argentinian security ministry of patrol boats for an allegedly inflated price. Sold by Israel Shipyards, the boats contain IAI equipment.
IAI has also been implicated in a corruption scandal in Uganda. In 1999, the Ugandan military acquired old Mikoyan MiG-21 jet fighters from Poland. The jets were upgraded with IAI technologies, making them “considerably more expensive than if they had purchased new directly from the manufacturers,” according to Corruption Tracker. No significant legal actions resulted.
IAI’s sale of Barak missiles to India in 2000 has also raised corruption concerns for IAI, particularly suspicious payments made by IAI subsidiaries in India. India’s Central Bureau of Investigation dropped the investigation in 2013 and IAI continues to be a major supplier of military goods in the country.
