This is the first part of a project naming and locating arms companies or industry organisations in the UK that sustain Israeli state terror and Palestinian genocide. These are companies which produce military equipment which is sold to Israel, such as radar systems, F-35 fighter jets and missile release mechanisms.

Some addresses listed here are factories used to manufacture weapons components that are sold to the Israeli government. However, Corporate Watch would like to emphasise that this is not the case for every address; a number are office sites, and some addresses belong to their subsidiaries – these are included even if there’s no available evidence that those subsidiaries themselves trade with Israel. Lastly, we also include sites belonging to arms industry organisations whose members include many companies which trade with Israel.

Each section includes a drop-down menu of addresses and (where available) phone numbers.

UK arms to Israel

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has been unrelenting since the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. At the time of writing, Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have murdered over 22,000 people. Well over 8,000 of these victims have been children. More than 90% of the Gazans (2.3 million people) who have survived so far, are now displaced and homeless in a situation humanitarian workers have described as “apocalyptic”. Despite a brief ceasefire, there’s no end in sight to the devastation, as the IDF is now obliterating Southern Gaza –  despite initially telling people to flee there.  Meanwhile, arms manufacturers’ profits are booming. Amid the surge in demand for arms, shares in BAE Systems, for instance, rocketed up by 12p in just the first three weeks of the conflict alone, increasing the firm’s overall value by just under £1bn.  

Data from Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) shows that since 2008 the UK has approved £560m in export licences to Israel. But the true value of UK-Israel exports is shrouded in secrecy because the British government also approved 88 “unlimited-value” or open licences where the value is not known. Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) notes that open licence exports:

 include components for the F35 stealth combat aircraft currently being used in the bombardment of Gaza, as well as body armour, military communications equipment, military electronic equipment, components for military radars and targeting equipment, naval vessel components, and much more.

On 6^th December, UK-based GLAN and Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq sought a judicial review to challenge UK arms export licences to Israel. Al-Haq lawyer Ahmed Abofoul stressed the UK’s “legal and moral obligation to not grant licences for the sale of British weapons to regimes that commit atrocity crimes”.

Addresses and Sources

The information here is sourced from financial databases and UK company register Companies House, with addresses cross-referenced with sources such as company job listings and Google Maps. All the information is already in the public domain, although some is hidden behind subscription paywalls.

As mentioned, while the parent company produces weapons sold to Israel, there isn’t necessarily evidence all subsidiaries do. It is therefore likely that some subsidiaries will deny involvement, even if they are all part of the same deadly profit-making machinery.

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin is the world’s biggest arms company by revenue.

Research by CAAT reveals that Lockheed’s MLRS M270 rocket launcher has been used in Gaza for the first time since 2006, and that they’re made by a consortium of European and British companies.

Lockheed Martin is also the prime contractor for F-35 stealth bombers which it boasts are the “most lethal…fighter aircraft ever built”. A recent human rights challenge to the export of F-35 parts by campaigners in the Netherlands was dismissed by a court in The Hague, albeit the judge ruled that the fighters “contributed to possible war crimes” in Gaza.

The UK provides 15% of the components used to build these fighter jets, with CAAT estimating that each F-35 is worth around $12m (£9.5m) to the UK. In 2022 alone, this is likely to have netted the UK over £58m.

In October 2023, a deal was approved for Israel to buy an additional 25 F-35s. And it’s worth noting that Israel uses a specially-adapted version of the bomber called Adir which has additional “internal weapons bays”. Although Lockheed historically refused to modify the F35, it relented for Israel. Recent IDF propaganda is celebratory about the devastating impact of airstrikes in Gaza using its Adir bombers.

Who else is making F-35 bombers?  

Aside from Lockheed Martin, many other companies are involved in making F-35s. CAAT has identified a number of components being manufactured in the UK:

• The rear fuselage: BAE Systems
• The active interceptor system (part of the flight controls): BAE Systems
• Durability testing: BAE Systems
• Ejector seats: Martin-Baker
• Tyres: Dunlop Aircraft Tyres
• Refuelling probe: Mission Systems Wimborne Ltd.
• Laser-targeting system: Leonardo UK

Elbit Systems

Elbit is Israel’s biggest military and arms company. It has frequently bragged about the effectiveness of its hardware as “battle proven” a claim borne out through years of attacks on Gaza and the Occupied Territories. Who Profits has produced an in-depth report on the full horror of Elbit’s range and use of weapons in Palestine. The company is a world leader in developing remote warfare products including: “lethal and intelligence gathering robots, drones/UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), targeted mortar ammunition, surveillance systems and more”.

Elbit subsidiaries include:

• UAV Tactical Systems Ltd (U-TacS) – The UK government has been working with Israel on UAV technology since at least 2005 in a deal initially worth at least £1bn to develop the Watchtower drone project. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed a contract with UAV Tactical Systems Ltd (U-TacS) – a joint venture between  Thales UK and Elbit Systems UK to develop the Watchtower drone. The company is still owned by those two firms.
• Instro Precision Ltd – According to CAAT, this Elbit subsidiary makes “targeting equipment for troops and vehicles and hold export licenses to Israel – this equipment is likely used in Israel’s ground operations”.
• Elite KL Ltd – Produces a range of military-grade products that Palestine Action claims are “essential for the production of Israel’s Merkava tanks”. 

This interactive map shows the names and addresses of all UK-based companies linked to Elbit. (However, Corporate Watch has not yet verified that all these addresses are up-to-date.)

Leonardo

Leonardo UK is a subsidiary of Italy’s largest arms company. In November 2022, the US subsidiary Leonardo DRS completed a merger with Israeli radar company Rada. Leonardo’s complicity in this technology is significant. The Rada website states that the radar network “covers the entire Gaza strip”.

Leonardo also supplies Israel with “Aermacchi M-346 aircraft and components for its Apache attack helicopters”. As mentioned, the laser targeting system for F-35 fighter jets is made at the Edinburgh site, below.

Leonardo subsidiaries include:

• Selex ES International Limited – In 2014, Leonardo subsidiary Selex issued a denial that any of its Gabbiano radars were sited in Israel. However, this seems to stand in contradiction to a 2011 announcement stating: “Selex Galileo will provide Gabbiano-series radars for Elbit Systems’ Hermes 450 and Hermes 900 unmanned air vehicles”. Another press release announced a deal between Italian and Israeli space agencies for SELEX Galileo to design, develop and deliver “a new hyperspectral instrument for the SHALOM mission”.
• AgustaWestland International Limited – AgustaWestland is now Leonardo’s helicopter subsidiary. According to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, it makes “components for Apache attack helicopters” that Israel has used in Gaza. While the company is still officially active, it has been lying low since its involvement in a corruption case emerged in India in 2012 known as “Choppergate”.

Moog

Moog produces motion control technology for military, aerospace, medical and industrial uses. The company states that it makes components for the M-346 at sites in Tewkesbury and Wolverhampton:

Redmayne Engineering

A privately owned British aerospace company. Back in 2006, it was identified as supplying components for Israel’s Apache helicopters. It currently holds approvals (meaning it meets standards to enter contracts) to supply parts to a number of companies including Leonardo, BAE and Boeing.

SITES LINKED TO SEVERAL COMPANIES

ADS GROUP

All the companies listed in our reports are members of ADS group – the British arms trade association, which represents nearly 1500 arms and security companies.

As the ADS website likes to brag, the defence sector has a £28.8bn turnover, with exports worth £7.4bn (over a three-year average). This figure also reveals just how limited the value of recorded (as opposed to open) licences truly is.

Search for member companies here and for upcoming ADS events here.

DE&S

Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) (formerly, Defence Electronics and Components Agency (DECA) is a Ministry of Defence procurement organisation and as such, it awards contracts on behalf of the ministry and lists its major customers as:

Ministry of Defence, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Thales, Rolls Royce, GE Aviation, Raytheon, L3 Wescam, Allied Aerosystems, Ferranti, Agusta Westland, United States Department of Defence, Boeing, EADS, Selex, Aerosonic Corporation, DSTL, CMCAuk, Lockheed Martin, d+m Systems Test, Electroservices, Kallista Electronics Ltd, Ridgeway Components Ltd, MBDA, Terradyne, Trescal, SerCo and Qioptiq.

DE&S has locations around the UK, including Western Europe’s biggest ammunition depot.

Part two will cover more companies linked to the ongoing genocide, including those linked to manufacturing components for bombs and chemical weapons. It will also include more detail about BAE Systems – the UK’s biggest arms company.

Images via Wikimedia Commons