Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) Director General, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amir Baram held a brainstorming session with the CEOs of roughly 20 leading defense-tech and startup companies, focused on the Ministry’s strategy to advance Israel’s munitions independence, strengthen its qualitative and technological-defense edge, and deepen cooperation with the defense establishment.

The meeting was attended by the Head of the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D), Brig. Gen. (Res.) Dr. Daniel Gold, the Head of the Budget Department and Economic Advisor to the IDF Chief of the General Staff, Brig. Gen. Nir Weingold; the Deputy Director General and Head of the Planning Department, Racheli Chen; the Deputy Director General and Head of the Defense Procurement Directorate (DPD), Ze’ev Landau; and additional senior officials. Companies represented at the forum included Xtend, SmartShooter, Kela, Ondas, Esh-Tech, and others.

The Director-General and senior ministry officials presented the CEOs with the IMOD’s strategy, centered on: strengthening Israel’s munitions independence; preserving and expanding its qualitative edge through the development of “the next surprises”; increasing defense exports; and broadening the strategic partnership with the United States and other countries. The meeting enabled the companies to raise the key challenges facing defense startups, allowed the Ministry to deepen its support for them, and advanced Israel’s unique defense-tech ecosystem, widely regarded as one of the world’s leading.

According to figures presented by the Head of the DDR&D, orders to defense startups in the first half of 2026 totaled approximately $330 million (approximately NIS 1 billion) – double the amount in the same period last year. The number of defense-tech companies operating under the Ministry’s oversight since the start of the war has risen to 322, driven by growing demand at home and abroad and by a series of measures taken by the Ministry, led by the DDR&D together with the Budget Department and other departments, to strengthen the defense-tech and defense-startup ecosystem in Israel.

IMOD Director-General, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amir Baram: “One of our strategic goals is munitions independence in critical components – we cannot allow our operational capability to depend on a supply chain we do not control. This is a process that takes time, but it begins with the decisions we make every day, and you, the startups, are part of that solution. We are not choosing between startups and the major manufacturers – we need both: we want healthy competition that drives innovation and competitive pricing, and we want partnerships that allow small, agile capabilities to integrate into large, proven systems. This is a balance we expect every player in the industry to respect, in accordance with our code of ethics.

“We will encourage and assist, to the best of our ability, in strengthening every component of the ecosystem: entrepreneurs, venture capital investors, government funding, long-term contracts that provide certainty, and exports that open additional markets. Together, these form the engine that can drive the national growth of Israel’s defense-tech industry – not only as a defense solution, but as a genuine economic driver. Defense-tech is part of the State of Israel’s unique advantage, built on combat-proven capabilities that Israeli talent has successfully demonstrated on the battlefield time and again.”

Attached for your use are photos from the meeting. Companies pictured:* Xtend, SpectralX, SpearUAV, Intact, Dream, Ottopia, Skana, Airis, Esh-Tech, OZ, Kela, ShiftersAI, Next Dim, SmartShooter, Ondas, Classiq, Heven Drones.