Factory and Lab: Israel's War Business

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/defense-industry-the-business-of-war-in-israel-a-988245.html



Israel invests more money in research than most other countries -- and in no other place are research institutes, the defense industry, the army and politics as interwoven. The result is a high-tech weapons factory that successfully exports its goods globally.

Factory and Lab: Israel's War Business
By Markus Becker in Tel Aviv, Israel
August 27, 2014 – 10:26 AM

There's not much left of the high-tech car. In a warehouse about the size of an aircraft hangar, its remains look tiny. There are no wheels, no chassis, just the angular body of the car. And it's not in good shape at all. There's a gaping hole in its side with edges of lacerated metal. "Rocket-propelled grenade," says Yoav Hirsh, smiling. Had a person been inside, he or she would likely not have survived the blast. But there was no one behind the wheel: The Guardium is a fully automated vehicle.

Pride radiates from Hirsh -- who has a mix of gray and white hair, an athletic frame and a determined look on his face -- when he talks about his cars. He's the CEO of G-Nius, one of first companies in the world able to produce an army of robot fighters. The Guardium has been used since 2007 in patrols along the border of the Gaza Strip. It can be guided by remote control or can steer itself through a pre-selected route as its cameras and sensors capture data about the surroundings.

G-Nius: Rolling Robots for Israel's Military



"Guardium already has 60,000 hours of operations behind it," Hirsh says. "And it has saved many lives." He says the aim is to complete "missions without any risk to the soldiers." But in addition to saving lives, G-Nius vehicles can also destroy them, using remote-control weapons systems mounted on top of the unmanned vehicles. Hirsh notes that, although the weapons-equipped vehicles haven't yet been used, they are deployable. In another warehouse, a standard Ford F350 pick-up truck is parked, one equipped with its own weapons station. The cameras and sensors are real but the machine gun is a dummy. "We're a civilian firm, after all," Hirsh says.

G-Nius is a textbook example of the way technology is created in Israel. The company's headquarters are located in the High-Tech Park development in the city of Yokneam in northeastern Israel, surrounded by numerous other technology firms. It's a joint venture of the space and electronics firm Elbit Systems and the state-owed aviation and defense company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). It also has excellent ties with the military.