Israeli President Isaac Herzog awarded the Israel Defense Prize to three projects developed by the defense establishment and industries on Tuesday during a ceremony at his residence in Jerusalem.
One of the three prestigious prizes was for the Ofek spy satellite program. It is led by the Space Directorate at the Directorate of Defense Research and Development in Israel’s Ministry of Defense; Israel Aerospace Industries designed and built the satellites; and Elbit Systems produced the advanced space camera payloads.
Another prize went to a decade-long project run by Military Intelligence’s Unit 8200, the Mossad, the Israel Intelligence Agency and the Director of Security in the Defense Ministry.
The third prize went to a project by Mossad, the Research and Development Unit of the Defense Ministry and defense companies, aimed at preserving Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge over strategic threats.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz approved the prize awards committee’s nominations on May 30.
In a statement released at the time, Gantz said: “the Israeli Defense Prize reflects more than anything the integration of the branches of all of the defense organizations. We see this in the field every day, when the IDF, the Shin Bet, the Mossad and the Israel Police work as one. ... We see this in the integration between the industries and the defense organizations in various, breakthrough projects that enable us to have defense and technological superiority.”
