TEL AVIV. At a festive ceremony held on July 2nd, the President of the State of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Benjamin Netanyahu, and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, awarded the Israel Defense Prize to projects and operations that contributed to the security of Israel and to its qualitative military edge and technological superiority.
The Israel Defense Prize for 2019 was awarded to the men and women involved in the following projects: RAFAEL’s SPICE 1000 weapon system, the campaign to expose Hezbollah tunnels in the north, the Mossad operation in an Iranian nuclear archive, and a technological development project of the Israel Security Agency (ISA).
SPICE 1000 is part of RAFAEL’s wider air-to-surface SPICE Family (250, 1000, 2000) of stand-off, autonomous, air-to-ground weapon systems that attack targets with pinpoint accuracy and at high attack volumes, without depending on GPS navigation in GPS-denied environments. SPICE is combat-proven with the Israeli Air Force and is in operational service with a number of international users. To date, RAFAEL has received the prestigious prize 52 times, for breakthroughs such as the IRON DOME, DAVID’s SLING, TROPHY, POPEYE and many more.
President of the State of Israel, Reuven Rivlin: “The role of the defense establishment and the civilian industries that accompany it is to be the invisible defensive wall that pushes conflict behind enemy lines, and allow us citizens to continue to go about our daily lives. This is the reason we invest so heavily in creative and ground-breaking technological development. I want to thank you and your families for the exhausting and dedicated work, and for the endless effort you have invested and continue to invest.”
Israel’s Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Benjamin Netanyahu: “We will always defend ourselves. And our true force is in the minds and hearts that are present here. You, the winners of the Israel Defense Prize, have made a fundamental contribution to our defense and deterrence. You have all done an excellent job. Go forth and succeed in ensuring the eternity of our nation.”
