Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works quietly meets with Israeli defense-tech start-ups - exclusive

Senior officials from Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works visited Israel last month, meeting with over a dozen defense-tech start-ups and senior defense officials to identify battlefield-proven technologies for integration into American systems.

Senior officials from Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, the company's advanced development division, were in Israel last month for a rare visit to identify battlefield-proven technologies from Israeli defense-tech start-ups. The trip, organized by Lockheed Martin Israel, included meetings with over a dozen companies and senior officials from Israel's Defense Ministry's Directorate of Defense Research and Development (MAFAT). A demo day was held in Gaza border communities, and a separate event in central Tel Aviv focused on drones, command-and-control, and autonomy, with companies like Pixelsite, Regulus, and Particle Labs presenting. Another event, hosted by CET Sandbox, featured about ten start-ups in electronic warfare, battlefield dominance, autonomy, and force protection, including Tenna Systems, Ion Flux, Invisig, BEX Robotics, Resight, Sharksense, Asio Technologies, Airwayz, R2 Wireless, and Insignito. The visit concluded with a public event at Start-up Nation Central in Tel Aviv, where over 100 start-up representatives gathered for a panel discussion and Q&A. The initiative mirrors a prior integration of Israeli defense tech Xtend's operating system into Skunk Works' MDCX autonomy platform. The article frames the visit as a strategic move to incorporate combat-validated Israeli innovations into American systems, highlighting the deepening ties between the US defense industrial base and Israeli tech.