Rafael was established in 1948 as the Science Corps (Hebrew: חיל המדע, known by the acronym HEMED, Hebrew: חמד) under the leadership of Shlomo Gur. It was renamed the Research and Design Directorate (אגף הפיתוח והתיכנון) in 1952. In 1952 David Ben-Gurion decided to split the activities of HEMED into two agencies. The pure scientific research was left with HEMED, while the development of weapons was placed into the new EMET agency.[3]
In 1954 Ben-Gurion decided to change the name of EMET to RAFAEL (Hebrew: רשות לפיתוח אמצעי לחימה, lit. 'Armament Development Authority').[4] It was reorganized as Rafael in 1958.[5]
In 1995, Yitzhak Rabin asked Amos Horev to become chairman of the board of Rafael, following many years in which Horev had served as chairman of Rafael's advisory committee.[6] Horev served as chairman until January 2001.[6]
During the early 1990s Rafael was operating at a loss (peaking in 1995, with a loss of $120 million on a turnover of $460 million). Therefore, it was decided to restructure the organization and start operating Rafael as a company. Initially the new company had three discrete divisions, each operating as a profit center, with a separate balance sheet presented to the newly formed management board.[7]
The restructuring was completed in 2002 when Rafael was formally incorporated as a limited company (although still as a government-owned corporation), while maintaining its technological capabilities through an investment of about 10% of turnover in R&D programs. In its first year as a limited company, Rafael earned a $37 million profit on $830 million in sales.[8] By 2016, Rafael reported annual net profits of 473 million ILS (roughly 130 million dollars), up 3%, compared with ILS 459 million in 2015. New orders in 2016 totaled ILS 10.7 billion, and sales amounted to ILS 8.32 billion, 6% more than in 2015. The company's orders backlog as of the end of 2016 was ILS 21.72 billion, 12% more than at the end of 2015.[9]
On October 14, 2007, the company changed its name from Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd. to Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.
In 1993, Rafael Development Corporation (RDC), a technology transfer company, was established as a joint venture with Elron Electronic Industries; in order to commercialize applications based on defense technologies for medical devices, telecommunications, and semiconductor industries.[16] The company established and developed several companies including:
SELA Semiconductor Engineering Laboratories – a provider of automated sample preparation tools for semiconductor manufacturers, sold to Camtek Intelligent Imaging.[21]
Medingo – developer of a micro pump insulin delivery system consists of two parts: a semi-disposable insulin dispensing patch and a remote control, which allows for discreet personalized insulin delivery. The company was sold to Hoffmann-La Roche's subsidiary Roche Diagnostics for $160 million as well as up to $40 million in milestone payments.[23]
^Merdor, Monaya M. (1982). "Science Corps (Hemed)". IDF in Its Corps: Army and Security Encyclopedia (in Hebrew). Vol. 17. Revivim Publishing. pp. 17–19.
^ ab"Amos Horev". MIT Enterprise Forum. 1 January 2001. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
^Shelah, Shmulik (22 June 2009). "Microsoft confirms 3DV acquisition". Globes. Tel Aviv: Globes Publisher Itonut. Archived from the original on 26 June 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2009. [Microsoft corporate vice president of Israel Research & Development Moshe Lichtman] said, for the first time officially, that "the R&D center helped Microsoft in buying the intellectual property of 3DV Systems, and in the wake of that dozens of the company's employees were recruited to work at the development center."Alt URLArchived 18 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
$3.450 billion USD (2022)[1]
