"We want to prevent the next October 7": Israeli Air Force veterans building a new drone defense
CTech’s Amy Shapiro talks to Itay Nourian, CEO of Insignito, which is tackling the cost of drone defense with an acoustic sensor, amid Israel's defense sector boom.
Insignito at at the Defense Tech Expo 2026
(Video: Daniel Campos)
According to Itay Nourian, CEO of Insignito, “one of the biggest problems in drone detection” is finding solutions that can be cost effective, especially given the fact that “you have drones that cost hundreds of dollars and they are able to destroy bases that cost $7 billion.” He adds: “low cost problem demands a low cost solution.”
Nourian spoke with CTech’s Amy Shapiro during the Defence Tech Expo 2026 in Tel Aviv (February 17 2026), an event that underscored the significant shift of the Israeli technology sector. In the wake of October 7, Israel’s defense sector has experienced a maturation, accelerating from a period of rapid adaptation to a sustained "gold rush," driven by battlefield-proven solutions and a global increase in defense spending.
The call to arms for the team, already experts in drone acoustics, came in the aftermath of October 7, after the realization that the decisions around expenses of defense systems were creating dangerous vulnerabilities. "I will not defend a quarter of the border because everybody will go from the other side. I want to defend only one base because nobody will attack the other base," Nourian says. Developing this technology on home soil carries significant meaning for Insignito, whose team members all have backgrounds in the Air Force. "We want to prevent the next 7th of October," says Nourian. "We want to prevent, we want to defend our family and our friends.”
You can watch the full conversation in the video above.
