SINGAPORE – Five months ago, with the war in the Gaza Strip well underway, the booths of Israeli weapon manufacturers at the Dubai Airshow were vacant, cordoned off by red tape. The Abraham Accords may have led to a sales bonanza for Israel's defense industries in the Gulf, but it proved difficult to openly sell Israeli-made weapons at the United Arab Emirates fair while the same weapons were killing thousands of Palestinians in the Strip. However, at the Singapore Airshow, the biggest and most important arms trade show in Asia, which ended a month ago, the situation was entirely different. The fighting in Gaza seemed very far away, the Asian clients took an interest in systems that have proved themselves on the battlefield, and the efficacy of the Israeli weaponry showcased here was backed up by evidence fresh from the battlefields in Gaza and Lebanon. Some of the buyers were eyeing defense systems that have intercepted thousands of missiles, while others were drawn to attack drones and tiny, advanced loitering munitions.
2022 was a record year for Israeli defense exports, in large part thanks to the war in Ukraine and to the spike in sales to states that signed the Abraham Accords two years earlier. This trend continued big-time in 2023, when Europe increased its arms purchases due to growing concern over Russian President Vladimir Putin. The possible reelection of former U.S. President Donald Trump, who explicitly declared that he would abandon NATO members and encourage Russia to attack them, added fuel to the fire.
Thus, flush with the success of a very profitable year, Israeli weapons manufacturers showed up in Singapore to court the Asian market, which was responsible for one-third of the industry's 2023 sales. While Singapore's government had forbidden demonstrations of solidarity for Gaza (14 percent of the local population is Muslim), on the eve of the airshow, an unusual social media campaign called the defense minister of the small island state to stop purchasing Israeli weapons and being an "accomplice to genocide," and urged a boycott of the five-day event that was hosting Israeli companies.
Photograph: Cambodia's army chief learns about Rafael's SPYDER system.Credit: Avi Scharf
But the government didn't allow the protest effort to gain traction, and the Israeli pavilion opened without a hitch. Eleven companies took part, including the three major manufacturers – Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Elbit and Rafael – as well as Aeronautics, Controp, Bird Aerosystems, Skylock, Sentrycs, Orbit, Steadicopter and the government-owned Tomer. The latter develops engines for the Arrow missile, the Shavit satellite launcher (and its counterpart, the Jericho missile which, according to foreign media reports, is a ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead), as well as for a variety of artillery systems.
The Israeli pavilion was inaugurated by the Defense Ministry's director general, the head of Sibat (the ministry's international directorate for defense exports), the ambassador to Singapore and the chairman of Rafael. The pavilion, with its many booths, was centrally located and proved to be a pilgrimage site for numerous foreign delegations. The chiefs of the Cambodian army and air force, for example, began with a visit to the IAI booth, accompanied by the company's vice president for sales in Asia and Africa. They then conducted a lengthy conversation at the Rafael booth, where they showed interest in the SPYDER air defense system (which was previously sold to many states, including India, the Philippines, Vietnam, the Czech Republic and, reportedly, to the UAE), as well as the family of Spike missiles, which have already been sold to dozens of states.
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Immediately afterward, a delegation headed by the defense minister of Thailand, a major client of Israel's defense industries (it has in the past purchased artillery, mortars, missiles and bombs, radars for fighter jets, drones and Spike missiles, among other products). Naturally, the Thai minister was accompanied by the CEO of IAI, Boaz Levy. From the IAI booth, the delegation moved on to Elbit, which recently sold Thailand the Hermes 900 advanced tactical intelligence and attack drone. There the minister also spoke with the vice president of the drone division at Elbit about the sale of the Hermes 450 drone. Nearby, under a swath of yellow fabric, the brand-new Hermes 650 was hidden, to be unveiled only the next day.
The Singaporean air force's Hermes 450, made by the Israel Aerospace Industries.Credit: Avi Scharf
'The local client'
The close ties between Israel and Singapore are probably the most open secret here. Israel helped establish Singapore's army, and according to foreign reports, continues to sell it advanced weapons systems. However, representatives of Israeli weapons manufacturers at the airshow asked "not to talk about the local client." Some three years ago, Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited Singapore, but Israeli censors forbade Israeli media from reporting on his trip – until Nahum Barnea broke the news in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.
Nevertheless, various official and open reports in Singapore expose the depth of the ties and cooperation between the two countries – on land, at sea, in the air, in space and in the realm of cybersecurity.
The Singapore Air Force had pride of place in the show's vast outdoor aircraft display area. Under the strong tropical sun, with almost 100 percent humidity, local pilots and air crews stood by, greeting visitors. Alongside a multi-role black Airbus A330, the Singaporean aerial tanker, were Singaporean fighter jets and helicopters, made in the United States, as well as two Israeli drones, IAI's Heron-1 and Elbit's Hermes 450, which were sold to the island nation years ago. On the eve of the airshow's opening, the country's air force announced that it intends to gradually decommission the Heron and Hermes, and that it's examining alternatives – but not mentioning names.
The Thai defense minister with senior IAI and Elbit executives.Credit: Avi Scharf
Entirely by chance – or perhaps not – Elbit unveiled its Hermes 650 for the first time ever, on the second day of the airshow. According to sources at the company, this new model is slated to gradually replace the Hermes 450, the Israel Air Force's veteran workhorse, which will soon chalk up 30 years of service as an intelligence and attack vehicle. At the festive debut, Elbit announced that it already has a client for the new drone, but refused to reveal its identity. The giant 650 has a surprisingly boxy look, quite uncommon in the drone world, with a forward engine and a large wingspan that allows it to carry various payloads – radars, intelligence and surveillance systems, missiles and so on – as well as long endurance of up to 24 hours, at 22,000 feet, far beyond the horizon.
Strangely, Elbit calls the 650 "Spark," which is also the IDF's nickname for the new advanced tactical drone made by Aeronautics (50 percent owned by Rafael), which entered the Israel Air Force's service just a few months ago. The latter was given a place of honor at the Aeronautics booth in Singapore, and for a good reason. It turns out that the Singapore Air Force had recently purchased four such aircraft in a major deal, whose existence was only revealed in a report by Singapore's defense ministry. In Israel, it wasn't reported on at all. The only testament to the deal's existence was buried deep inside an Aeronautics' paid-content article.
Drones and other unmanned aircraft were the biggest sellers among Israeli weapons exports in 2022, and last year all Israeli manufacturers reported major deals in that department (Elbit, for example, reported selling Hermes 900s to an undisclosed client; subsequently India revealed that it was the buyer). The IAI booth prominently showcased the Harop suicide drone, which helped Azerbaijan in its battle to reestablish control over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. Recently, IAI reported a giant deal involving the sale of loitering munitions to Estonia and additional deals worth $150 million with two undisclosed countries.
Israeli defense exports in 2022.
Back to Israel's very open dealings with Singapore: The air force pavilion at the show also displayed an IAI Nachshon special mission plane. The island state has four of those. A video presentation projected on a big screen with impressive graphics highlighting the architecture of the state's aerial defense array featured Rafael's SPYDER system, which, according to Singaporean officials, was originally purchased in 2016 and has been in active use since 2018.
Singapore has also recently purchased advanced Israeli-made ship-to-ship missiles, a fact that was revealed by none other than the commander of the country's frigate fleet in an interview in Jane's Defence Weekly. According to him, Blue Spear missiles will replace the American Harpoon missiles on six frigates in the fleet. The missiles are manufactured by a subsidiary jointly owned by IAI and ST Engineering, a Singaporean defense technology group. Blue Spears also entered into service this year in Estonia, a member of NATO. According to the Estonian defense minister, these systems, along with Rafael's Spike missiles and IAI's loitering munitions, are meant to help deter Putin, and can destroy the Russian Baltic fleet, if needed.
The Hermes 650. Has a surprisingly boxy look, quite uncommon in the drone world.Credit: Avi Scharf
Defense ties between Israel and Singapore have also come to fruition in space. Six months ago IAI completed a $200-million sale of a radar-based surveillance satellite to the Asian country. IAI also has a 30-percent stake in the Israeli ImageSat company, which provides intelligence solutions based on surveillance satellites manufactured by IAI. On the eve of the airshow, ImageSat announced a strategic collaboration with a Singaporean satellite manufacturer in developing and producing a new satellite, which was unveiled at the show.
And while Israel does not elaborate on its dealings with Singapore, financial reports published by IAI reveal that it has significant holdings in the country, including the IAI ASIA Pte and Mardan Holdco Pte companies. Another IAI-owned firm active in Singapore is Custodio, a type of cyber incubator. As revealed by Haaretz, Custodio invested in the past in two companies that developed spyware, one of which, Cytrox, has recently been blacklisted in the United States. Surprisingly, Custodio has disappeared from IAI's most recent financial report. Another Israeli company in which Custodio invested, Cyviation, which deals with aviation cybersecurity, was supposed to participate in the Singapore Airshow, but its booth remained empty.
Timing is everything
In perfect timing, in the early afternoon of the third day of the airshow, a few cellphones went off in the Israeli pavilion: alerts about missiles fired toward Eilat. The Houthis had launched a ballistic missile – but it was intercepted by the Arrow system, the pinnacle of Israeli technology. The system, jointly developed by all the Israeli manufacturers presenting here, experienced an operative baptism of fire in the current war, and since October has intercepted six missiles from Yemen and one from Gaza. "We'd be glad if you mention that the Arrow system is made by the Aerospace Industries," read an email sent to reporters an hour later. It certainly won't be bad for sales.
Rockets, missiles and aerial defense systems made up 20 percent of all Israeli exports in 2022, and over one-quarter of IAI's sales in 2023. The successful year was capped off by a $3.6-billion sale of the Arrow-3 system to Germany, and a $1.2-billion sale of the Barak MX integrated aerial defense system to Azerbaijan, following a demonstration in Baku that included live-missile-firing and the interception of "a ballistic missile fired by an imaginary enemy." A week later, amid an airlift from Israel, Azerbaijan launched a speedy war and retook the Nagorno-Karabakh region within 24 hours.
Aeronautics' Orbiter 4. The only testament to the deal's existence was buried inside an Aeronautics' paid-content article.Credit: Avi Scharf
Rafael, too, ended last year with a giant deal after selling the David's Sling system to Finland for the first time – in the wake of threatening moves by Putin – for $300 million. The system, which intercepts medium-range missiles, rockets and drones, constitutes the middle layer of Israel's multilevel aerial defense array. It has chalked up dozens of interceptions over central Israel since the Gaza war broke out. At the airshow, Rafael also presented its Iron Beam system for intercepting rockets, missiles and drones using lasers, which attracted the attention of every foreign delegation that stopped by its booth. The Iron Beam will operate along with Iron Dome and David's Sling, its major advantage being its cheap operating cost – as opposed to kinetic interceptors that cost tens of thousands of dollars each. It is expected to be operational in a year or two.
On the opposite wall, a family of Spike missiles were on display. Their sales to NATO states have shot up since war broke out in Ukraine. Also on show was Rafael's unique loitering weapon, the Spike Firefly – a type of suicide drone that allows combat forces to locate terrorists in built-up areas and home in on them. If it is unsuccessful in such missions, the drone can be recovered and reused. Its operators can also land it on a roof during the fighting, keep it there in sleeping mode to preserve its battery and then activate it when needed. In September, the IDF announced for the first time that this drone was used during an operation in Jenin, in the West Bank; according to a senior official in Rafael, it has also been in use during the fighting in Gaza.
IAI also showcased a personal missile, a type of loitering weapon with a 2-kilogram warhead that can be carried by a single soldier and launched vertically from the palm of his hand. The Point Blank, as it is called, looks like something from "Star Wars" and can achieve a top speed of 280 kms/hour (174 miles/hour). At the time of its unveiling last year, IAI reported selling the Point Blank to the U.S. military.
IAI's Point Blank a type of loitering weapon with a 2kg warhead that can be carried by a single soldier and launched from the palm of his hand.
Urgent talk
The global spike in the use of drones has spawned a great demand for systems that detect and neutralize those aircraft, and manufacturers from around the world presented their products at the Singapore show. The need for such systems is twofold: The increased use of civilian drones demands systems for managing aerial traffic, which is expected to grow exponentially in the next few years. The uptick in the popularity of drones also poses a major challenge when it comes to securing strategic facilities, including maritime ports and airports, which now need to defend themselves from an errant drone entering their airspace and hitting a plane during take-off or landing. As for the military applications, the threat is clear: Hundreds of videos have emerged from battlefields in both Ukraine and Gaza, showing lethal use of explosive drones to target ground forces, military facilities and vehicles.
One Israeli manufacturer that showed its drone-related wares in Singapore was Skylock, which is owned by the Avnon Group, which in the past sold these systems to the UAE and Morocco. In the company's booth, representatives expressed both pride and sorrow when recalling the urgent phone call they received for help from the IDF on October 7, even though it had tried to interest the defense establishment in its anti-drone systems long before that. Hamas' drone attacks on the Saturday morning of the brutal Hamas attack disabled advanced firing positions, damaged tanks and dropped explosives on soldiers in bases within Israel – and sparked a sense of urgency in the IDF.
A Hamas drone shuts down an Israeli army position on the Gaza border, on October 7.
At the front of the Skylock booth visitors could see a wearable anti-drone system for ground troops. A couple of flat antennae, each roughly the size of an iPad mini, which can be affixed to the fighter's vest, are apparently able to identify a threatening drone within a range of a few kilometers, and immediately jam its communications and ground it. Many videos released by Hamas show their drones cruising above large concentrations of soldiers in Gaza, collecting intelligence and dropping bombs on them, leaving no doubt about the need for such defensive systems. According to Avnon CEO Aviad Matza, the wearable system – which has been sold in the past to NATO members and to the U.S. Army's special forces – is in widespread use among ground troops in Gaza. "We have downed dozens [of drones], and for certain we have downed some IDF drones as well," he admits, in response to my question.
In the back one could also see the wearable system's big sister, the Portable Dome, which is designed to be mounted on vehicles. The advantage of Skylock's technology, Matza explained, is that they can precisely identify an enemy drone operator's location, which is quickly relayed and used to attack him. Matza added that the company's systems have already assisted in targeting Hezbollah drone operators. Another system that was showcased was the Skybeam, a counter-drone gun which, Matza said, has been sold to Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania and Poland, and from there has made its way to Ukraine, to combat Russian drones.
If by chance you have wondered recently why Waze has been telling you that you're located in Beirut or Cairo right now instead of Israel, it is possible that it was caused in part by a fourth system displayed by Skylock – the Spoofer, a device that jams enemy drones' GPS sensors in order to disorient them and force them to land immediately. "So you're responsible for the fact that half of Israel can't use Waze?" I asked. "It's not just us," they said, half smiling. And of course, they are right.
The Singapore Airshow 2024.Credit: Airbus
Sentrycs, an Israeli anti-drone company that up until two years ago was owned by NSO, was another participant in the Singapore show. Its representatives noted, too, that only after October 7 did Israel's defense establishment start to show serious interest in their capabilities. Its anti-drone technology has been put to good use in Israel's south and north, against Hamas and Hezbollah drones. Audelia Boker, the company's vice president for marketing, explained that in contrast to their competitors, Sentrycs' systems don't jam and ground all active drones in the protected area, only enemy ones. IDF drones, according to Boker, are identified as such and not downed by the company's systems.
Along with their military applications, Sentrycs' drone identification and neutralization systems also have civilian use, including at prisons ("Where there are many smuggling attempts using drones") and airports ("Singapore's airport still doesn't have such a system"). They can be mounted on vehicles and used to secure VIP motorcades as well as forces on the ground. According to Boker, NATO's special forces have already purchased such weapons.
Chinese surprise
The Singapore Airshow, a biennial event that has been held since 2008, saw record numbers of visitors and aerobatic displays this year. Some 60,000 enjoyed earsplitting engine noise and the powerful smell of jet fuel, as crews from the air forces of Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, Australia and India performed hair-raising exercises on high. An Airbus A350-1000 passenger plane, partially powered by sustainable fuel, danced around in the sky, switching elegantly between hovering in place and maneuvering like a fighter jet. Aviation accounts for around 2 percent of global CO2 emissions, and this year at the show public commitments were made to use cleaner fuel that will minimize such pollution: a mixture of regular jet fuel and sustainable fuel, made in part with recycled cooking oil and energy-rich crops.
Local and foreign representatives and Israeli participants at the show said they were surprised by the impressive Chinese turnout in that country's pavilion. "Ultimately all the countries in the region are threatened by the Chinese," a senior figure in one of the Israeli defense companies on hand here told Haaretz. "Here at the airshow they don't buy fighter jets from China."
An unmanned helicopter made by China's United Aircraft.Credit: Avi Scharf
"They've come to demonstrate their power," Jon Ostrower, editor-in-chief of The Air Current and a veteran aerospace reporter who has been covering the airshow since 2008, told me.
Beijing's ambitions were encapsulated at the show by the unveiling of the C919 passenger plane, manufactured by the government-owned COMAC company. It was the first time the aircraft has been displayed outside China. The C919, a competitor of the MAX 737 and Airbus neo320, was featured in an aerobatic demonstration, but its path has been strewn with obstacles, and it has yet to receive approval to fly outside China. In the next few years it will be used only for domestic flights. AVIC, the Chinese government's aviation and defense conglomerate, showcased a wide range of cargo, fighter, stealth and special ops airplanes and drones in Singapore, and inaugurated a new fighter helicopter, the Z-10ME, for the first time outside China. The helicopter bears a striking resemblance to the Apache.
AVIC's booth. "Here at the airshow they don't buy fighter jets from China."Credit: Avi Scharf
In recent years, China has been increasingly taunting its neighbors. Chinese fighter jets enter Taiwan's airspace, and its naval fleet holds frequent exercises simulating a blockade of the rival island – over which Beijing has repeatedly warned that it will act aggressively to regain control. In the South China Sea, it attacks Philippine fishing boats and wrests control over increasing numbers of reefs and shoals in the area, a source of dispute also involving Thailand and Vietnam. China has also created and established control of a number of artificial islands in the vicinity, established bases, deployed fighter squadrons and anti-ship missiles there, and significantly expanded its offensive capabilities – far from the mainland.
China's neighbors all have their eyes trained on its biggest rival, the United States, which evidenced the most massive presence on the tarmac of Asia's most influential airshow. It deployed to Singapore a couple of stealth F-35 jets; a KC-135R aerial refueling plane; a U.S. Navy reconnaissance, electronic and maritime warfare P-8 plane – of the type that has been flying almost daily since the Gaza war began, opposite Israel's and Lebanon's shores; and a C-17 Globemaster cargo plane, the likes of which have landed in the Middle East by the hundreds recently, carrying huge quantities of ammunition for Israel, as well as U.S. forces and equipment meant to deter Iran and its proxies. At the end of the third day, a duo of B52 strategic bombers emerged above the thousands of visitors at the show, arriving straight from Guam (some 5,000 kms. away, a six-hour flight) to mount a powerful performance, before disappearing over the horizon to their strategic base in the Pacific Ocean.
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