As history has shown us time and again, technological advances have had a huge impact on the conduct of warfare. This can be traced back from the adoption of saddle and stirrup for the cavalry, to the invention of gunpowder, to the present day automatic machine guns and development of nuclear weapons. Realpolitik demands that in order to survive in an anarchical world, a state needs to build up its military and economic power.
Technological prowess therefore is crucial in giving the country that slight edge over its adversaries. This has been the reason that countries and companies have relentlessly pursued development (R&D) of newer technology and invested time and money into research and development in the security sector. Innovation is important for sustainable development and it brings in new processes, services and systems that show the essential investment in any area. Israel’s investment into R&D has catalysed the growth of its civilian and defence industries which have in turn complemented its emergence as a technologically modern and prosperous nation. It can be noted that countries view spending on Defence Research and Development (R&D) as an investment for the future and a guarantor of their security.
Israeli Spending on Defence
From the time the state of Israel was created in 1948, it has experienced various security challenges. The geo-political situation in Israel’s neighbourhood has been hostile to say the least. The country from its experiences acknowledged that its continued existence could be secured only through a strong military, economy and pursuit of technological prowess. Israel’s small geographical and demographic footprint – as compared to other countries in the region – also resulted in Israeli political leadership giving importance to technical education and achieving technological superiority. Israel, in the present era, is known for its R&D in defence equipment and products. Some of the companies of Israel are the best in developing hi-tech innovative products for the defence sector complementing the civilian sector.
As Dov Dvir and Asher Tishler recount in their book The Changing Role of the Defense Industry in Israel’s Industrial and Technological Development, from the 1950s onwards (see Chapter 10), Israel has been playing a pivotal role in the innovation of defence products and equipment, focus on aerospace, cyber and naval systems. These developments have benefited the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), have created valuable friends and allies and earned much needed foreign exchange. Given the fact that Israel is not well endowed with natural resources, it chose to bank upon its highly educated population and steered its economy into a self-sufficient one, based on employment of high-end technologies. Innovation and creation of hi-tech industries accelerated the path for the Israeli defence sector to become global leaders in R&D beginning from the 1960s and 1970s. The 1970s witnessed an influx of high technology into the civilian industry and paved the way for defence R&D in the areas of sensors, electro-optics, information gathering systems etc. The flow chart in Figure 1 below shows the different phases of Israeli defence industry since the mid-1950s.