From the Mossad to MAFAT: Ondas targets Israel’s defense elite
The company is recruiting former Defense Ministry R&D chief Yehuda Almakias as it seeks to build a major defense technology group through acquisitions, including a bid for an Iron Dome supplier.
The revolving door between Israel's defense establishment and defense firm Ondas continues to spin.
Just days after the U.S.-listed defense holding company announced the appointment of former Mossad chief David Barnea as chairman and president, Calcalist has learned that another senior defense official is set to join the company.
Brig. Gen. (res.) Yehuda Almakias, who until last November headed the Research and Development Division at the Ministry of Defense's Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D, known in Hebrew as MAFAT), is expected to become a vice president at Ondas, less than a year after leaving public service.
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Yehuda Almakias (right) alongside David Barnea.
(Photos: Haim Goldberg and Ministry of Defense)
The head of the R&D division at DDR&D occupies one of the most influential positions in Israel's defense ecosystem, sitting at the intersection of the military, defense industries and defense technology companies. The role provides deep exposure to the IDF's technological capabilities and gaps, future procurement priorities and long-term development programs, as well as close relationships with companies developing next-generation military technologies.
Against the backdrop of ongoing conflicts across the Middle East and a global surge in defense spending, Ondas has been rapidly expanding in an effort to become a significant player in the international defense market.
Over the past two years, the company has assembled a portfolio of more than 15 acquisitions, most of them operating in autonomous systems, ground robotics and drone technologies. The expansion has been financed in part by an investor whose identity the company continues to keep confidential.
Late last year, that undisclosed investor injected roughly $1 billion into the company, enabling Ondas to accelerate both its acquisition strategy and its recruitment of senior figures from Israel's defense establishment and defense industries.
Many of those recruits previously held senior positions at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. They include former CEO Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Har Even; former vice presidents of R&D Dr. Irit Idan and Dr. Yehudit Hochman; former vice president Oshri Lugassy, who now heads Ondas' Israel operations; and Efrat Lazari, formerly head of Rafael chairman Yuval Steinitz's office, who now serves as Ondas' vice president of strategy.
More recently, Moshe (Miara) Maor, Rafael's former vice president for mergers and acquisitions, also joined Ondas. Maor oversaw Rafael's acquisition of Aeronautics, a transaction that was later criticized in a scathing report by the Government Companies Authority.
Former DDR&D head Brig. Gen. (res.) Yaniv Rotem has also joined the company. Almakias now appears set to follow the same path to Ondas, whose Nasdaq-listed parent currently carries a market value of about $4.3 billion.
These appointments go beyond ordinary executive hiring. They reflect Ondas' strategy of rapidly building institutional expertise by recruiting some of Israel's most experienced defense and technology officials. Many of these executives possess detailed knowledge of the Defense Ministry's decision-making processes, future procurement plans and technological priorities years before they become formal tenders.
Barnea's appointment, announced just two months after he completed more than three decades of service in the Mossad, including five years as its director, represents perhaps the company's highest-profile recruitment yet.
Although Ondas has not disclosed the financial terms of Barnea's appointment, it is widely assumed that the company is offering generous compensation packages to attract senior defense figures.
For Ondas, Barnea brings more than prestige. His international relationships could help the company win contracts with defense ministries, armed forces and government procurement agencies worldwide. His appointment also sends a signal to investors that Ondas intends to compete with established defense contractors rather than remain simply a holding company for robotics and drone businesses.
The market welcomed the news. Ondas shares have risen about 11% since Barnea's appointment was announced earlier this week.
Still, the appointment has raised eyebrows within Israel's defense establishment because of the speed with which Barnea moved into the private sector.
The Mossad maintains close relationships with a number of Israeli defense companies. Those ties included cooperation surrounding the September 2024 pager operation against Hezbollah, when thousands of pagers carried by the organization's operatives exploded simultaneously, severely disrupting the group's operations.
Defense industry sources told Calcalist there had been no operational relationship between the Mossad and Ondas that would have created a conflict regarding Barnea's appointment.
Ondas said Barnea's appointment received full approval from the Mossad's legal advisers.
Questions submitted by Calcalist to both the Prime Minister's Office and the Civil Service Commission went unanswered.
A security source familiar with the matter said: "At least in the past, the Mossad imposed much stricter cooling-off periods on its senior officials."
Defense Ministry sources said Almakias' move to Ondas is expected to become effective next month after a committee operating under the Jerusalem District Court determined that he would be subject to a 10-month cooling-off period following his departure from DDR&D.
Ondas declined to comment.
The company's rapid expansion has also drawn scrutiny from the Ministry of Defense's security directorate.
At the center of that scrutiny is Ondas' attempt to acquire control of mPrest, a Rafael subsidiary that develops the command-and-control systems used by the Iron Dome air defense system, in a deal reportedly valuing the company at around $200 million.
Rafael owns 43.25% of mPrest. Other shareholders include founder Natan Barak, OurCrowd and several private investors.
Ondas hopes to acquire enough shares to become mPrest's controlling shareholder while leaving Rafael with a minority stake.
The deal has effectively been frozen while the Ministry of Defense reviews the transaction because of mPrest's highly classified activities. Any change in ownership requires ministry approval.
Earlier this week, Calcalist asked the Defense Ministry about the status of the mPrest transaction and the identity of Ondas' undisclosed investor.
The ministry declined to answer specific questions, saying only that:
"The Ministry examines every case on its merits within the framework of supplier registration procedures and existing agreements, while maintaining equality among suppliers in accordance with the law and safeguarding the state's security interests. The same applies to Ondas' business activities, which are reviewed on an ongoing basis by the relevant professional bodies."
Ondas' aggressive expansion reflects the profound transformation underway in the global defense industry as governments increase military spending amid multiple conflicts. What remains less clear is whether Israel's regulatory framework is adapting quickly enough. For now, critics argue, the Defense Ministry appears to prefer broad statements over public transparency.
