An Israeli weapons manufacturer that makes munitions and components for Israel’s battle tanks.
Ashot Ashkelon specializes in gears, transmissions, and gearboxes for military and aerospace applications. It makes most of its revenue from its military business, specifically from sales to the Israeli military, which amounted to 64% of its 2024 total revenue.
Ashot is the sole provider of transmission units for Israel’s Merkava battle tanks as well as the Namer and Eitan heavy armored personnel carriers. It manufactures the RK325 transmission unit for the Merkava 4 and 5, under license from German company Renk, which originally developed it.
The company also makes tungsten-based armor-piercing tank projectiles for the Israeli military. Other components Ashot makes for Israel’s battle tanks include ammunition auto-loaders, parts of the armor itself, and more.
During Israel’s 2023-2025 genocidal war on Gaza, Ashot experienced a sharp increase of orders by the Israeli Ministry of Defense. As a result, the company’s share price has risen by 132% during the year after October 2023 and by 250% between 2022-2025.
Some of Ashot's production is done by its subsidiary Reliance Gear in Addison, Illinois. This allows Israel to receive these components as a gift from the U.S. government through its Foreign Military Sales program. Ashot acquired Reliance Gear in 2011 specifically so that it could continue benefiting from this program and also so it could become a supplier of the U.S. Department of Defense. The company also has commercial activities in the U.S., supplying systems to US aviation companies.
Ashot is controlled by Israeli private equity firm FIMI Opportunity Funds, which owns 84% of its stocks. It was founded as a government-owned company, part of Israel Military Industries. In 2018 it became part of Elbit Systems, and was later acquired by FIMI in 2022.