BICOM

What happened: The Israeli defence technology company Rafael announced a £20 million deal with the UK Ministry of Defence to purchase their advanced Trophy Active Protection System that will be installed on their Challenger 3 Main Battle Tanks.

• The Trophy system protects vehicles from anti-tank guided missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and other anti-tank weapons, by releasing projectiles before they hit the intended target.
• The system also identifies the precise source of the hostile fire, allowing for an immediate response.
• The British Army conducted a live fire test a year ago, where it proved over 90 per cent effective.
• The Trophy system has been operational in the IDF for over a decade and Rafael has already supplied the system to other members of NATO, notably the US and Germany.

Israel-NATO: In parallel, yesterday Prime Minister Netanyahu hosted NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană in Jerusalem.

• Netanyahu noted, “We have excellent relations with NATO and excellent cooperation, and I look forward to increasing it even further. We have great opportunities for peace in our area, but we also have great challenges, principally from Iran and of course from other areas as well.”
• “Israel and NATO cooperate on both fronts, deterring, or removing the dangers and seizing the opportunities.”
• Geoană said, “I’m here to mark a new beginning in a very robust partnership between NATO and the State of Israel. We share many of the concerns that Israel shares. We see authoritarian regimes like Iran and North Korea and Russia posing challenges to our security both in Europe and also in the Middle East.
• “I’m here to reconfirm the strong interest that we have in building upon the exceptional technological sophistication of your great nation.”
• “I chair innovation in NATO and through the new partnership that we are about to launch in the next few weeks, I know that we’ll be building our partnership to the next level.  And I’m very privileged to be in Israel, a country that we admire, respect, and hope to work even closer with.”

Context: Rafael is one of Israel’s and the world’s leading companies in advanced defence technologies. It developed both the Iron Done and David’s Sling missile defence systems.

• In December 2020, the British Army and the IDF signed a joint agreement to strengthen their relationship.
• Both militaries share a commitment to improving and integrating their multi-domain capabilities in maritime, land, air, space, and cyber and electromagnetic.
• They share similar interests in the region. While Israel feels the Iranian threat far more acutely due to its relative geographic proximity, both countries wish to prevent Iran achieving a nuclear capability, curb its advanced ballistic missile programme, counter Iranian proxies and protect the shipping lanes of the Gulf.
• There is also significant cooperation between the two countries in cyber security, described by a senior UK official as a “first-order partnership”.
• Since 2010, the two countries have cooperated on the development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles through the Watchkeeper programme, which has been deployed by British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Last year, UK Ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan told the Jerusalem Post, “Israeli use of technology and how to do security and military operations, we are very interested in this. Our armed forces has a big appetite to learn and profit from that.”

Looking ahead: Dr. Ran Gozali, Executive Vice President at Rafael commented, “The collaboration with the UK MOD is set to continue, propelling further successes in the future, as the project heads towards its third and final phase of integration, instilling greater confidence in Trophy’s ability to ensure fortified defence for the UK and its troops.”

• Following this initial investment of £20 million, it is expected to add more systems in the years ahead reaching over £100 million.
• Rafael’s chairman, and former Likud minister Yuval Steinitz, said in a recent interview to Army Radio, “One year from now,  Israel will be the first country to have partial laser protection. In two years there may be complete protection, against missiles, shells, rockets, or anything else. This will protect us both in the South and in the North.”