Anti-satellite weapons top the US Space Command chief’s priorities, and Israel is following the same logic with a budget line for offensive orbit capabilities that can defend its satellites and strike targets on Earth from above.
The Defense Ministry’s multiyear space plan funds those two offensive tracks alongside expanded military intelligence collection from orbit and resilient communications for the defense establishment, with the offensive work meant to defend the home front and hit hostile actors.
Katz has pushed in closed forums for a major, rapid upgrade to rank Israel among the world’s top five space powers, saying orbital systems give the IDF an edge in future conflicts and crediting the Ofek 19 radar satellite with day-and-night, cloud-penetrating imaging.
MAFAT, Israel’s defense research directorate, the IDF and domestic defense industries are shaping the effort, and the ministry says Operation Roaring Lion, in which Israel leaned heavily on satellite intelligence, accelerated the program and helped build target banks.
Berger, who heads the ministry’s Space Directorate, argues Israel needs space superiority to give the IDF room to maneuver, and his directorate won the Israel Defense Prize for the Ofek 13 and Ofek 19 synthetic aperture radar satellites that see through clouds and darkness.
Katz said earlier this year that Israel aspires to be one of the world’s three leading countries in space offense, a club currently limited to the established space powers.
