UVision

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Israeli maker of Hero loitering munitions ("suicide drones") (defence industry), owned by Aaron Frenkel; used by the IDF; US Army and Marine Corps contracts; named by an Iranian official in 2026

UVision

Trade name UVision Air Ltd
Logo UVision logo.png
UVision logo
Type Private company
Founded 2011
Headquarters 3 Derech Nahal Alexander (Nahal Alexander Road), Emek Hefer Industrial Park 3877701, Israel
Industry Loitering munitions (defence industry)
Services Hero series of loitering munitions, launchers and fire-control systems
Parent Aaron Frenkel (sole owner)
Subsidiaries UVision USA; Spear UAV; Trim Robotics
Revenue About $250 million a year (2026)
Number of employees 220 (2025)
Homepage uvisionuav.com

UVision (UVision Air Ltd) is an Israeli arms company that makes the Hero series of loitering munitions, sometimes called "suicide drones". It is owned by the Israeli businessman Aaron Frenkel. Its chief executive, Ran Gozali, spent about three decades at the state arms company RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems.[1] His predecessor, Avi Mizrachi, is described by The War Zone as "a retired Israel Defense Forces Major General".[2] The company's Hero-30 has been in use by units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) since at least 2020,[3] and its Hero-120 is supplied to the US Army and US special forces.[4][5] In November 2026 Mohammad-Amin Aghamiri, secretary of Iran's Supreme Council of Cyberspace, was reported as naming "U Vision" among three companies he accused of working with Israel's military industries.[6]

History and ownership

According to Ctech, Aaron Frenkel acquired UVision in 2010 through his private company, Magnus, and the company "has operated under his control since 2011". It reported in June 2026 that the company was wholly owned by Frenkel.[1] Ctech elsewhere describes UVision as "Founded in Israel in 2011".[7] The database of Israeli military exports DIMSE, run by the Israeli anti-militarist group New Profile, also gives 2011 as the founding year.[8] No sourced information on the company's original founders has been found.

In June 2015 Globes described UVision as "a small defence company that has kept a low media profile for the past four years". It reported that the company had recently appointed former IDF deputy chief of staff Maj. Gen. (res.) Yair Naveh as its chairman, and that it was made up of former holders of posts in the IDF and in long-established defence companies. Its chief executive at the time was Yair Dubester.[9]

In February 2019 the company set up UVision USA, a wholly owned US subsidiary. Defense News reported that the US company Raytheon had signed an agreement in 2016 to work on the Hero-30.[10] DIMSE reports that the US branch acquired Trim Robotics in 2025.[8] In November 2025 UVision agreed to buy the 70 per cent of Spear UAV that it did not already own. It had held 30 per cent since leading Spear's $17 million funding round in 2022. Ctech reported that Spear UAV, maker of the canister-launched VIPER drone, was founded in 2017 by former Air Force pilot Lt. Col. (res.) Gadi Kuperman and that its leadership included "veterans of the Ministry of Defense's technology units and Israel's defense industries". It said UVision then had 220 employees.[11]

Planned share offering

In June 2026 Ctech reported that Frenkel planned to float UVision on Nasdaq at a valuation of $3.5–4 billion, in an offering led by JPMorgan, after Israeli institutional investors had offered a valuation of about $2.9 billion. Leumi Partners and Phoenix had come closest to investing. Part of the proceeds was to repay shareholder loans that Frenkel had made to the company.[1] In October 2026 Ctech reported that the offering, originally planned for August, had been postponed to November. It said the company's annual revenue was $250 million and that a new chief financial officer, Eyal Rubin, was reviewing options, including bringing in a foreign financial investor.[12]

Leadership and military links

Avi Mizrachi, whom The War Zone called "CEO of UVision and a retired Israel Defense Forces Major General" (Israel Defense Forces), said in June 2021 that the company was "proud to be selected by the Marines to provide advanced solutions for the US frontline forces". He said its subsidiary, UVision USA, was setting up a US production facility.[2] Ctech reported that Mizrachi was chief executive for five years.[1] The Defense Post described him as the company's chairman in June 2024.[5]

According to Ctech, Ran Gozali became chief executive about a year and a half before June 2026. Before that he spent about three decades at RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems, where he was a senior executive vice president and member of the management team. Rafael had considered him as a candidate for its chief executive. The chairman is Ilan Gifman, a long-time associate of Frenkel who has represented him on the boards of Gav-Yam and Alony Hetz. The board also includes Yedidya Yaari, "a former commander of the Israeli Navy and former CEO of Rafael" (Israeli Navy), and Yair Ramati and Yair Dubester.[1][12]

UVision's executive vice-president for strategy and business development, Itzik Huber, is described by Ctech as "an Israeli Air Force veteran" (Israeli Air Force) based at the company's US branch.[7]

Products

The company makes the Hero family of loitering munitions, which Globes described in 2015 as six systems of different sizes.[9] Huber told Ctech that they combine the reconnaissance of a drone with the strike of a missile: "On one side, it flies like a UAV, loiter like a UAV, searches for targets like a UAV. On the other hand, it's fully capable as a missile." He added: "Our drone is a one-way ticket."[7] The man-portable Hero-30 can be launched from a canister.[10] The Hero-120 carries a 4.5-kilogram warhead for use against tanks.[5] UVision says it has manufacturing in the US, Europe, India and Israel and describes its systems as "combat-proven".[13]

Use by the Israeli military

In July 2020 UVision said that the Hero-30 had "been procured by the Israel MOD and put to operational IDF forces use, after trials", and was "already in use by various IDF units" (Israel Defense Forces; Israeli Ministry of Defence). Mizrachi said that lethal loitering systems were becoming "a core required capability of leading military forces worldwide and of the IDF in particular".[3]

In a September 2025 interview, Ctech wrote that recent conflicts, "including the Israel-Hamas war and the situation with Iran", had fed lessons back into UVision's development process. Huber said: "We have a lot of knowledge coming back from the operational side ... Then we adjust and change what needs to be changed to better support the operators." He said that one of the company's two main advantages over foreign competitors was that "we have a lot of conflicts in different arenas. So we get the operational knowledge and operational debriefing very fast and very efficiently". He also said: "Israel is the best playground."[7] The Electronic Intifada reported that Rheinmetall, which markets the Hero range in Europe, promoted it as "combat proven".[14] DIMSE (New Profile) says that UVision's products "were used during the Gaza genocide", citing a December 2025 Wall Street Journal report.[8]

Foreign military customers

United States

The War Zone reported that a variant of the Hero-120 and UVision's Multi-Canister Launcher had been selected on 21 June 2021 for the US Marine Corps' Organic Precision Fires-Mounted (OPF-M) programme, to arm Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and Long-Range Unmanned Surface Vehicle drone boats. UVision was working with the US company Mistral Inc.[2]

In June 2024 UVision received a $74 million contract to supply a modified Hero-120, the Hero-120SF, to US Special Operations Command, in partnership with Mistral, with production at UVision's facilities in Virginia.[5]

According to Army Recognition, the US Army awarded a multi-year contract with a ceiling of $982 million in October 2025 covering Hero-120 munitions, launch and fire-control equipment, training and support. On 4 August 2026 prime contractor Mistral Inc. and "design authority UVision" completed the first lot acceptance tests under the Army's Lethal Unmanned System programme.[4] Ctech reported in August 2026 that UVision and Mistral had received a further Army order worth more than $50 million, and that the systems were being made in the United States.[15]

Europe and elsewhere

Rheinmetall markets the Hero range in Europe jointly with UVision. In July 2023 Defense News reported an order from Hungary.[16] DIMSE lists Argentina, the Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Sweden, South Korea and the United States among the users or prospective buyers of Hero munitions. It says that in India UVision works through AVision, a joint venture with Aditya Precitech, and that it markets in South Korea through Firstec.[8]

Named by Iranian official (2026)

On 2 November 2026 Mohammad-Amin Aghamiri, secretary of Iran's Supreme Council of Cyberspace, named three companies in an interview on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) state television and accused them of working with Israel's military industries. According to Iran International, Aghamiri said the firms were part of a network of AI start-ups working with Israeli military industries, particularly the aerospace sector. He said: "We know who is engaged in what activities ... We say explicitly that the hands of these people are stained with the blood of the people." The outlet reported that he accused the companies of playing a role in military operations and assassinations, and that he urged their employees to leave: "I think those who work at these companies should decide on their future as soon as possible, leave and not continue their cooperation." Asked what would happen if they stayed, he said, according to the same report, "We will see what happens."[17] The Persian technology site Zoomit reported that Aghamiri claimed the companies' products had been used in Israeli military operations and assassinations against Iran. It quoted him as saying that "we neither forgive nor forget" anyone whose hands were stained with "the blood of our people".[6] These are Aghamiri's allegations. The reports cited here do not say which products or operations he meant.

Reports of the interview give the company names differently. Zoomit and Khabaronline quoted him as saying "for example Axon, U Vision, Migos or Magos" (مثلا اکسون، یو ویژن، میگوس یا مگوس).[6][18] Iran International and the Persian news site Fararu instead rendered the second name as "Unigen" (یونیژن).[17][19] None of these reports gave the companies' full names. A post on X by Arya Yadegaar on 2 November 2026 identified the three as Axon Vision, UVision and Magos Systems, describing UVision as a maker of "loitering munitions (kamikaze drones)".[20]

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Golan Hazani, Suicide-drone maker UVision seeks up to $4 billion valuation in Nasdaq debut Ctech, 21 June 2026, accessed 3 November 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Joseph Trevithick, Marines Pick Loitering Munition To Arm Light Vehicles And Drone Boats, The War Zone, 23 June 2021.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Paolo Valpolini, UVision's Hero-30 Lethal Loitering Systems are in Service European Defence Review, 13 July 2020, accessed 3 November 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jérôme Brahy, First production batch of HERO 120 attack drones clears US Army's final quality test before deployment, Army Recognition, 10 August 2026, accessed 3 November 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Joe Saballa, US Orders Modified Hero Loitering Munitions for Special Operations The Defense Post, 6 June 2024, accessed 3 November 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Hanieh Kalhor, آقامیری سه شرکت فناوری را به همکاری نظامی با اسرائیل متهم کرد: نه می‌بخشیم، نه فراموش می‌کنیم (Aghamiri accuses three technology companies of military cooperation with Israel: we neither forgive nor forget), Zoomit (Persian), 3 November 2026, accessed 3 November 2026.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Amy Shapiro, "Our drone is a one-way ticket": Inside UVision's deadly marriage of surveillance and strike Ctech, 28 September 2025, accessed 3 November 2026.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 New Profile, UVision DIMSE (Database of Military and Israeli Security Export), accessed 3 November 2026.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Yuval Azulai, הסלון האווירי: להתפוצץ על דאעש - ולהרוויח מזה כסף (The air show: blowing up ISIS – and making money from it), Globes (Hebrew), 15 June 2015, accessed 3 November 2026.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Seth J. Frantzman, Israeli firm UVision opens US subsidiary, with eye toward kamikaze drones market Defense News, 21 February 2019, accessed 3 November 2026.
  11. ↑ CTech, Uvision acquires Spear UAV as demand grows for new-generation battlefield drones Ctech, 26 November 2025, accessed 3 November 2026.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Golan Hazani, UVision weighs foreign investor as IPO stalls Ctech, 13 October 2026, accessed 3 November 2026.
  13. ↑ UVision, About Us UVision, accessed 3 November 2026.
  14. ↑ David Cronin, German weapons giant acts as sales rep for Israel's "suicide drones" The Electronic Intifada, 1 October 2025, accessed 3 November 2026.
  15. ↑ CTech, UVision wins additional $50 million-plus U.S. Army order for HERO 120 loitering munitions Ctech, 12 August 2026, accessed 3 November 2026.
  16. ↑ Sebastian Sprenger, Hungary orders Hero kamikaze drones from Rheinmetall-UVision venture Defense News, 20 July 2023, accessed 3 November 2026.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Iran International, Iran cyberspace chief threatens Axon, Unigen, Migos over alleged Israeli military ties Iran International, 3 November 2026, accessed 3 November 2026.
  18. ↑ Khabaronline, آقامیری سه شرکت فناوری را به همکاری نظامی با اسرائیل متهم کرد (Aghamiri accuses three technology companies of military cooperation with Israel), Khabaronline (Persian), 3 November 2026, accessed 3 November 2026.
  19. ↑ Fararu, آقامیری: روی شرکت‌های فناوری همکار اسرائیل اشراف کامل داریم (Aghamiri: we have full oversight of technology companies cooperating with Israel), Fararu (Persian), 2 November 2026, accessed 3 November 2026.
  20. ↑ Arya Yadegaar, Post on Iran's Head of National Cyberspace naming three companies X, 2 November 2026, accessed 3 November 2026.
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