| Type | Government-owned corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Arms/Defense |
| Founded | 1933 (Unofficially) |
| Headquarters | Ramat HaSharon, Israel |
| Products | Firearms, weapons, ammunition |
| Website | http://www.imi-israel.com/ |
Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI), also referred to as Taas (Hebrew: תע"ש), is an Israeli weapons manufacturer. It manufactures firearms, ammunition and military technology mainly for Israeli security forces (especially Israel's army, the Israel Defense Forces or IDF), although its small arms are very popular throughout the world.
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Israel Weapon Industries's small arms are some of the most popular in the world. The Uzi submachine gun is arguably the most popular submachine gun in the world, because of its compact nature and reliability. Overall, the Uzi has the highest sales statistics of all modern submachine guns, worldwide.
The IMI Galil is a compact assault rifle, along with integrating some other design features. The Negev is IMI's main light machine gun. The Jericho 941 is a semi-automatic pistol, while the Tavor is a bullpup assault rifle.
In the 1980s an American firearms designer, Magnum Research, contracted IMI to re-design and manufacture a Magnum caliber (.44 Magnum, .357 Magnum and .50 AE), semi-automatic pistol. The result was the Desert Eagle, a very powerful handgun made famous by Hollywood and first-person shooters.
Other products are created, mainly for use by the IDF. The Uzi, however, is popular with many forces worldwide, while the Galil and Tavor are popular with counter-terrorist forces.
IMI has dedicated factories manufacturing ammunition for firearms, artillery (both explosive rounds and rockets), tanks and air-to-ground (both stand-off and direct attack). Many of its products are standard NATO-compatible, but IMI also produces eastern bloc-caliber munitions. However, for the past the weapons have not been STANAG compliant.
Beside small firearms, the IMI also produces heavy firearms. IMI engages in many upgrade projects for military vehicles (tanks, APCs and other armoured fighting vehicles). Upgrade components include firepower, survivability and maneuverability .
IMI also produces a wide range of defensive products such as vehicle add-on armor packages, landmine clearing systems, and reconnaissance systems and bridges. It also produces aircraft countermeasures, such as flares, decoys and electronic countermeasures control systems, some of which IMI now offers also for land- and sea-based platforms.
IMI also provides military training to the Israeli citizens. IMI contracts its services to outside countries that need security and military training. The clients come to IMI in Israel for months of security and V.I.P. training.[1]
IMI also produces cluster weapons which have allegedly been proven to be defective in use, in Lebanon in 2006, and in the 2008 South Ossetia war.[2]
Israel Military Industries also has a partnership with the Metropolitan College of New York (MCNY) in New York City. Metropolitan College of New York offers a classroom based Master's In Public Administration in Emergency Management and Homeland Security. In addition, all students go to Israel for an intensive study abroad seminar covering Homeland Security and Anti-Terrorism topics with Israel's top security and military experts.[3]