Itzhak Nissan | |
|---|---|
 Itzhak Nissan, CEO of Meteor Aerospace Ltd., addressing Aerosupply India 2015 as co-chairman | |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Education |
|
| Occupation(s) | Chairman and CEO of Meteor Aerospace Ltd. |
| Known for | Former President and CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) |
Itzhak Nissan is an Israeli engineer and business executive who is the chairman and CEO of Meteor Aerospace Ltd., a privately owned Israeli defense and security company that Nissan founded. [1]
Nissan holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electronics and Radar Engineering, both with honours, from the University of Washington in Seattle. [2]
Nissan joined Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. in 1978 as a systems engineer. Nissan's notable accomplishments included conception and development of a leading weapon system for the Israeli Navy and initiation of special programs in cooperation with other countries.
In 1995, Nissan was appointed as general manager of IAI's MBT Division, which was IAI's engineering and development house for missiles, precision weapons, naval systems, and leader of all of Israel's space programs.
In 2002, Nissan was appointed as corporate vice president and general manager of IAI's Systems Missiles and Space Group.
In January 2006, Nissan was appointed as president and chief executive officer of IAI. [3] Nissan led major changes in the company's culture and business orientation, adjusting its workforce structure and introducing the company to the Tel-Aviv stock market with bonds issuing. [4]
Globes business newspaper described Nissan as “a respected manager credited with winning huge deals for IAI”. [5] Nissan left IAI with an all-time high record of orders backlog, totalling nearly $10 billion. [6]
In 2013, Nissan and Hezi Bezalel founded a privately owned defense and Home Land Security (HLS) company – Meteor Aerospace Ltd. Meteor Aerospace develops and manufactures a range of weapons, and it develops new unmanned systems for air, ground and sea. [7]
Meteor has developed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems, manned or unmanned surface vessels (USV), and robotic ground vehicles.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. is an Israeli defense technology company. It was founded as Israel's National R&D Defense Laboratory for the development of weapons and military technology within the Israeli Ministry of Defense; in 2002 it was incorporated as a limited company.
Israel Aerospace Industries, is Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial and astronautic systems for both military and civilian usage. It has 14,000 employees as of 2021. IAI is state-owned by the government of Israel.
The IAI Heron (Machatz-1) is a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the Malat (UAV) division of Israel Aerospace Industries. It is capable of Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) operations of up to 52 hours' duration at up to 10.5 km (35,000 ft). It has demonstrated 52 hours of continuous flight, but the effective operational maximal flight duration is less, according to payload and flight profile. An advanced version, the Heron TP, is also known as the IAI Eitan.
RANGER is a tactical UAV system (TUAV) built as a Swiss-Israeli joint venture between Swiss aerospace enterprise RUAG Aviation and Israeli aerospace company Israel Aerospace Industries. Its design and some of its technology is based on the Scout UAV system by Israel Aerospace Industries.
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The Directorate of Defense, Research, & Development, abbreviated Maf'at (מפא"ת), is a joint administrative body of the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) and the Israel Defense Force (IDF).
Elisra Group is an Israeli manufacturer of high-tech electronic devices, mainly but not exclusively for military use. It makes equipment for electronic communication and surveillance, missile tracking and controlling systems, radar and lidar equipment. The group is composed of three companies: Elisra Electronic Systems, Tadiran Electronic Systems Ltd. and Tadiran Spectralink Ltd.
The IAI Searcher is a reconnaissance UAV developed in Israel in the 1980s. In the following decade, it replaced the IMI Mastiff and IAI Scout UAVs then in service with the Israeli Army.
The IAI Eitan is an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft developed in Israel in the early 21st century by the Malat division of Israel Aerospace Industries. The aircraft is a newer version of the IAI Heron. Along with intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTR), Israeli IAI Eitan also capable of holding armed roles. All exports of the aircraft are unarmed.
The IAI Harop is a loitering munition developed by the MBT division of Israel Aerospace Industries. Loitering munitions are designed to loiter above the battlefield and attack targets by crashing into them and exploding.
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The Elbit Systems Hermes 900 Kochav ("Star") is an Israeli medium-size, multi-payload, medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for tactical missions. It is a successor to the Hermes 450 series of drones, one of the most widely used military drones in the world.
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Barak 8, also known as LR-SAM or MR-SAM, is an Indo-Israeli jointly developed surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, designed to defend against any type of airborne threat including aircraft, helicopters, anti-ship missiles, and UAVs as well as ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and combat jets. Both maritime and land-based variants of the system exist.
IAI-HAL NRUAV is a unmanned rotorcraft project being co-developed by Malat Solutions, a unit of IAI of Israel, and HAL of India for the Indian Navy.
The defense industry of Israel is a strategically important sector and a large employer, as well as a major supplier of the Israel Defense Forces. The country is one of the world's major exporters of military equipment, accounting for 10% of the world total in 2007. Three Israeli companies were listed on the 2022 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute index of the world's top 100 arms-producing and military service companies: Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and RAFAEL. It is also a major player in the global arms market with a 2.3% share of the global exports of major arms as of 2023. Total arms transfer agreements topped $12.9 billion between 2004 and 2011. There are over 150 active defense companies based in the country with combined revenues of more than $3.5 billion annually. Israeli defense equipment exports reached $7 billion in 2012, making it a 20 percent increase from the amount of defense-related exports in 2011. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, arms exports reached $12.5 billion in 2022. Much of the exports are sold to the United States and Europe. Other major regions that purchase Israeli defense equipment include Southeast Asia and Latin America. India is also major country for Israeli arms exports and has remained Israel's largest arms market in the world.
Hezi Bezalel is an Israeli businessman. He is active mostly in Israel, the US, Britain, India, and various countries in Africa. He serves as the Honorary Consul of Rwanda in Israel.
A loitering munition, also known as a suicide drone, kamikaze drone, or exploding drone, is a kind of aerial weapon with a built-in warhead that is typically designed to loiter around a target area until a target is located, then attack the target by crashing into it. Loitering munitions enable faster reaction times against hidden targets that emerge for short periods without placing high-value platforms near the target area and also allow more selective targeting as the attack can be changed mid-flight or aborted.
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