Protection against terrorism expected to drive the Israeli homeland security market

Monday 25 June 2012, Amsterdam

In 2012, the Israeli defense market valued US$13.28 bn and had the third largest military expenditure in the Middle East. During the review period, Israeli defense expenditure has recorded a CAGR of -0.59% and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.97% over the forecast period, reflecting the threats from Iran, Syria, and other neighboring Arab countries. Moreover, Israel spent an average of 6% of its GDP on defense between 2008 and 2012.

As 75% of the US$30 bn of military aid Israel is scheduled to receive from the US between 2010 and 2019 must be spent on the procurement of military hardware from the US, the Israeli defense market is less accessible to defense suppliers from other nations. As a consequence of Israel’s increasing dependence on US military aid for its defense purchases, this is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, Israel’s economic and political dependence on the US means that the US has influence on Israel’s military transactions with countries such as China and India.

The Israeli defense industry is becoming increasingly reliant on defense exports as a source of revenue, which has led to increased competition between domestic firms. Moreover, internal competition is also on the rise because a large number of domestic firms are involved in the manufacture of similar equipment categories. Although the Israeli government has tried to form bidder teams, which form agreements not to compete with each other, or to compete in a manner that benefits all parties, many companies are unwilling to work together. For example, the recent attempt by Israeli training and simulation firm BVR Systems to cooperate with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) failed because the companies could not agree on cost sharing, development approaches and marketing initiatives, resulting in a costly litigation for BVR Systems.