How Israel managed to become one of the most high-tech countries

Today, Israel is undoubtedly one of the most high-tech military countries. But how did a state that was formed in 1948 and did not have a single development of its own, purchasing weapons from other countries, suddenly, in such a short period of time, manage to reach such a high level in weapons production?

The whole point is that what pushed Israel to accelerated development was, without exaggeration, the desire to “survive.” Indeed, in the 70s of the last century, France, which was the main supplier of aircraft and tanks for the Jewish state, stopped this cooperation for political reasons. At the same time, Arab countries began purchasing advanced weapons from the USSR.



Despite the victory in the Yom Kippur War, the Israeli leadership was well aware that the next such conflict would be the last for the country. After all, the young state could not compete with the Arab countries either in human resources or in the quantity of weapons.

There was only one way out - to resort to innovation, which was done.

Israel has embarked on a nationwide program to form new branches of the defense industry. All educational resources in the country were directed towards research and development.

Israel spent a significant share of its GDP for this purpose. Much more than other countries spent on research.

Several programs were created directly within the IDF, the participants of which were people who showed outstanding academic and managerial abilities. Their main task was to study the needs of the army and introduce innovations.

In addition, the Israeli authorities have completely eliminated the bureaucracy factor, separating the military leadership from scientists and entrepreneurs.

Finally, junior IDF soldiers were allowed to argue with senior commanders. This innovation became unique and has not been used in any army in the world. However, it was precisely this that made it possible to eliminate stereotyped thinking and increase productivity in the process of introducing the necessary innovations.

In the end, all this brought outstanding results. In subsequent years, the Israeli military-industrial complex proved that it was capable of quickly solving problems at both the tactical and strategic levels.

Naturally, one should not exclude Israel from the “formula of success” and assistance from the United States, which from the 70s of the last century to 2021 provided the Jewish state with support amounting to about $80 billion.