Rafael Advanced Defense Systems

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. (Hebrew: רפאל - מערכות לחימה מתקדמות בע"מ, formerly: RAFAEL Armament Development Authority), known as RAFAEL or Rafael, (also spelled as Raphael or Rephael; Hebrew acronym of "Authority for the Development of Armaments" - רשות לפיתוח אמצעי לחימה) is an Israeli defense technology company. It was founded as Israel’s National R&D Defense Laboratory for the development of weapons and military technology within the Ministry of Defense; in 2002 it was incorporated as a limited company.

Rafael develops and produces weapons, military, and defense technologies for the Israel Defense Forces and for export abroad. All current projects are classified.

History
Rafael was established in 1948 as the Science Corps (חיל המדע, known by the acronym HEMED, חמד) under the leadership of Shlomo Gur. It was renamed the Research and Design Directorate (אגף הפיתוח והתיכנון) in 1952. In 1952 David Ben-Gurion decided to split into two agencies the activities of HEMED. The pure scientific research was left with HEMED, while the development of weapons was placed in the new EMET agency.

In 1954 Ben-Gurion decided to change the name of EMET to RAFAEL. It was reorganized as Rafael in 1958.

In 1995, Yitzhak Rabin asked Amos Horev to become chairman of the board of Rafael, following many years in which Horev had served as chairman of Rafael's advisory committee. Horev served as chairman until January 2001.

Restructuring as a limited company
During the early 1990 Rafael was operating at a loss (peaking in 1995, with a loss of $120 million on a turnover of $460 million). Therefore it was decided to restructure the organization and start operating Rafael as a company. Initially the new company had three discrete divisions, each operating as a profit centre, with a separate balance sheet presented to the newly formed management board.

The restructuring was completed in 2002 when Rafael was formally incorporated as a limited company (although still as a government-owned corporation), while maintaining its technological capabilities through an investment of about 10% of turnover in R&D programs. In its first year as a limited company, Rafael earned a $37 million profit on $830 million in sales.

On October 14, 2007 the company changed its name from Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd. to Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.

Technological achievements

 * Shafrir (later renamed Python) - one of the most successful air-to-air missiles ever made (during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the IAF launched 176 Shafrir 2 missiles, destroying 89 enemy aircraft).


 * Spike is a fourth generation fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile.


 * Popeye is an air-to-ground missile system. Popeye Turbo SLCM is believed to be a nuclear-tipped submarine-launched cruise missile.


 * Iron Dome - The world’s first operational air defense system to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells.


 * Trophy - The world’s second (the first was the Russian Drozd and Arena (countermeasure) APS) operational active protection system, successfully destroyed an anti-tank missile launched from the Gaza Strip toward a Merkava Mark IV tank near Nir Oz.


 * Protector USV - The world’s first operational Unmanned surface vehicle (unmanned, autonomous naval combat system).


 * David's Sling - Surface-to-air missile system.

Civilian technology transfer
In 1993, Rafael Development Corporation (RDC), a technology transfer company, was established as a joint venture with Elron Electronic Industries; in order to commercialize applications based on defense technologies for medical devices, telecommunications, and semiconductor industries. The company has successfully established and developed  several companies including:


 * Given Imaging (NASDAQ:GIVN) - a pioneer in the sphere of capsule endoscopy.
 * Oramir Semiconductor Equipment - developer of laser cleaning technologies for the semiconductor industry, sold to Applied Materials in 2001 for $21 million.
 * Starling Advanced Communications (TASE:STLG) - provider of broadband wireless networking solutions for airliners.
 * Galil Medical - a developer of cryotherapy solutions.
 * SELA Semiconductor Engineering Laboratories - a provider of automated sample preparation tools for semiconductor manufacturers, sold to Camtek Intelligent Imaging.
 * 3DV Systems - developers of the ZCam, a time-of-flight camera products for video applications, sold to Microsoft.
 * Medingo - developer of a micro pump insulin delivery system consists of two parts: a semi-disposable insulin dispensing patch and a remote control, which allows for discreet personalised insulin delivery. The company was sold to Hoffmann-La Roche's subsidiary Roche Diagnostics for $160 million as well as up to $40 million in milestone payments.

Products

 * Shavit 2 sounding rocket
 * Tal 1 and Tal 2 Cluster Bombs