Since he became Rafael Advanced Defense Systems CEO in February 2024 Yoav Tourgeman has been at war. Production lines have been working 24/7 since October 7. 20% of the company's employees at the peak were drafted into the reserves, R&D budgets rose 30%, and demand for weapons for the IDF surged.
The results: In 2025, Rafael's order backlog grew by 15% and reached an all-time high - about $24.5 billion over about three years of sales, about half of which are exports. The explanation for this is simple: "With Operation Roaring Lion, the achievements were far beyond expectations," Tourgeman tells "Globes" in an interview for Independence Day. "We have learned a lot, and we are organizing for rapid rounds of rehabilitation (filling warehouses, repairs, etc)."
Tourgeman's pride rests on a series of products that have proven themselves on the battlefield in the recent campaign against Iran, and not only - from air defense systems, such as David's Sling and Iron Dome, to the Trophy anti-tank defense system. "The performance of Iron Dome is unlike anything it has ever done. It now stops every threat - anti-tank missiles, mortars, rockets and drones with incredible interception rates."
Rafael also has offensive means including the Ice Breaker missile, which is used by the Air Force for strikes at a distance of about 300 kilometers, and the Spike anti-tank missile series, which the IDF uses in all sectors and is considered the most sought-after in the world.
But there has also been criticism. At the end of last year, Rafael delivered the Iron Beam laser defense system to the IDF, which is designed to counter threats from drones, but its impact in the Iran war was not felt on the ground. "People lost patience," Turgeman replies to critics. "They thought that as soon as the system entered the IDF, it would be deployed. If you take the F-35 - it's an aircraft whose development was completed many years ago, but it was not operational within two months. I believe that soon we will also see operational results for the laser.
"The laser can be a classic for cluster missiles. It ignites the imagination, allows for full control with infinite ammunition. We are currently in a rapid production phase, and the Air Force is in a professional integration process. We leave no stone unturned, and we do not want operational malfunctions, and we do everything quickly."
The infinite ammunition is especially important in terms of the arms economy, a concept that has been prominent in public discourse in recent years and is often accompanied by the fear of a future shortage of weapons. "Arms economy means that you don't shoot just for fun, only if the result is worth the cost and effort. It's an everyday term, and even in the infantry they count the bullets," explains Tourgeman, reassuring that at no point was there a shortage: "In all the wars, including Iron Swords, with 40,000 rockets, Iron Dome and David's Sling, everything that was needed was intercepted. We also stood up to everything that was launched in the current war against Iran. The interception rates have been higher than 90%. I remind you that before the war there were estimates of hundreds or thousands of deaths."
Were you required to divert supplies earmarked for abroad for the benefit of the country for this to happen?
"Although in dollar terms the growth we presented in 2025 was 1.5 or 2 times, compared to Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Elbit Systems, it is rare that the increasing need for supplies is at the expense of customers abroad. We make sure that they are not harmed."
Tourgeman (63), is married with five children, and lives in the Jezreel Valley. He was raised in Hadera. His father worked in a tire factory and his mother was a kindergarten teacher. "I had a happy childhood in a warm and loving family of six children," he says. "The subject of education was very important to my parents, and they invested a lot in nurturing our abilities."
After enlistment, he joined the captains' course and served in the Navy for 25 years, including as head of combat systems. In his last post, he was an instructor at the National Security College and was discharged with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 2006, he began his career at IAI, as the head of the Arrow Directorate. He later served as the director of the MLAM plant, and in 2018 became CEO of Elta, a subsidiary of IAI, which is the national radar house. In February 2024, he changed companies when he was appointed Rafael CEO.
Along the way, he worked with IAI CEO Boaz Levy for almost 20 years, and when Levy led the management, Tourgeman, in his last position, was at the level of VP. Now the two are business rivals.
"Part of the ability to excel is to get more and more out of yourself without stopping, and you always set a benchmark in relation to others," Turgeman explains of the competition. "You want your missile, for example, to be better and have a longer range. We tend to do the best, and at the end of the year we compare with others to get a point of reference. For two years now, our reports have indicated double the growth of Elbit and IAI."
Last week, Boaz Levy was appointed chairman of IAI. What is your position on the matter?
"I wish IAI every success."
In addition to the domestic competition that Tourgeman is facing, foreign companies are also entering the local defense scene, led by Ondas, a US holding company in the field. Ondas has already made a series of acquisitions of defense companies in Israel, and the assault on the local market was also accompanied by the transfer of quite a few prominent senior officials from Rafael to its ranks. Among them: Rafael's former CEO, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yoav Har Even, who serves as a member of the company's advisory committee, and Brigadier General (Res.) Oshri Lugassi, who manages its operations in Israel, after previously serving as Rafael’s VP marketing.
With the American company's recruitment blitz, concerns also arose that sensitive secrets from Rafael would move with them to the new home. But Tourgeman is less concerned. "It's a compliment that a new company, which was founded with a lot of money from the international market, sees former Rafael employees as a focal point. Almost all the people who came there are indeed ex-employees. You can't even complain to the CEO of Rafael, who left two and a half years ago. People who have completed their term, and there is a quota of terms in government companies - it's clear that they will go to work in the field, and not as truck drivers or ophthalmologists. I'm not worried. We are dealing with larger companies like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, and are doing so successfully. In any case, as for Ondes, they have attracted a lot of attention, but I'm not sure they will bring products."
Another arena where Rafael is facing challenges is in the north. Until now, the company was considered one of the largest employers in the region, and now Nvidia is on its way to establishing a huge campus in Kiryat Tivon, and the fight for talent is picking up speed. "There is competition that has existed in the past and will exist in the future. To meet it, you need to offer salary, conditions and interesting work. The conditions at Rafael are no less than the benefits in high-tech, and on the issue of salary, the Government Companies Authority and the Payroll Supervisor at the Treasury allow for a flexible model, but more flexibility is needed."
The first stage of the IPO will be with institutional investors"
The Government Companies Authority is currently also working on the Rafael IPO. For years, the state has focused on the possibility of issuing a stake of IAI - up to 30% of its shares. Rafael’s IPO is supposed to be carried out in a different format.
According to Tourgeman, both companies operate in a particularly competitive international market, and therefore the restrictions that apply to other government companies should not apply to them. "I do not see how the defense industries, Rafael and IAI, will continue to grow without an IPO."
What is the planned model for the IPO?
"Rafael is a company that deals with sensitive security matters, and there are parts that cannot be disclosed to the public. This goes against the working standard of the stock market, according to which all information is exposed to the public. This conflict is being faced all over the world. In my opinion, it will be a two-stage process. The first stage will be with institutional investors, where it is easier to do this and the regulation is less restrictive. It is not an announcement for everyone, but for a small number of people. In the second stage, when confidentiality orders and vital interests are resolved, a sale to the public will also be possible."
How many shares do they plan to sell?
"There is still no government decision. I hope that when it is made, it will allow a maximum number of shares, so that the state and all of us benefit. There is a deep recognition by the minister in charge of government companies and the minister of defense of the urgent need for an IPO and regulatory relief for defense companies, with an emphasis on Rafael and IAI. All parties are pushing. I can understand that there are additional considerations and a duty of caution to do so, so that the move is successful."
The desire to list Rafael is influenced by its experience working with the international market and the growing demand for the technologies it develops. As early as 2004, Rafael (20%) established European company Eurospike in collaboration with two German giants, Rheinmetall and Diehl, which each hold 40% of the shares. The great success of Eurospike, which was established to market Spike missiles throughout Europe, led to the model being copied to Eurotrophy, which operates to market Trophy systems in Europe. Rafael (40%) established Eurotrophy with KNDS and GDELS (30% each). During Tourgeman's term, international collaborations have expanded into new arenas. In September 2025, Rafael and HRC (Hyundai Rotem Corporation) signed a strategic agreement, in which a Trophy system is integrated into the Korean K2 tank and is expected to be integrated into more platforms.
"You can't continue with the traditional approach of establishing one company after another. Collaborations allow you to enter the market and sometimes bring capabilities that the other company has better. Rafael is much more of a research institute than IAI and Elbit. Academic openness permeates and we like to work with other partners."
In conclusion, what is your message for Israelis for Independence Day?
"We live in an almost biblical period - a terrible epidemic and wars. I don't think there have been such long-term wars in human history. We have no dispute with Iran over water, land or anything else. There is a clash of civilizations, a clash of scales of values between modern-Western values and religious-fanaticism, and Israel is in the eye of the storm. But the country has proven that it knows how to stand shoulder to shoulder with a superpower like the US, with performances that inspire pride. Israel today is a superpower in terms that go far beyond local ones."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 16, 2026.
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