The Quiet Engine of Israeli Aviation
Behind the training, maintenance, and operation of dozens of aircraft stands Snunit, Elbit Systems’ aviation arm – providing full-spectrum support to the Air Force Flight Academy, the national firefighting service, the Israel Police aviation unit, and more.
A routine morning at Hazerim Airbase. Grob 120AI training aircraft, known in the Air Force as “Snunit,” take off with cadets at the start of their flight journey. More advanced trainees lift off in the T-6 “Efroni,” the AW119 “Ofer” helicopters, and the M-346 “Lavi.”
At the same time, at Megiddo airfield, a firefighting aircraft departs on another mission, while police helicopters circle above city centers carrying out law enforcement operations.
Few outside the worlds of defense and aviation know that behind all these flights stands Snunit, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems.
“We operate close to 70 aircraft every day,” says Eliezer (Ezer) Katabi, Snunit’s CEO. “From the Air Force’s training aircraft to firefighting planes and police helicopters, our job is to keep them flying – safe, available, and mission-ready.”
Snunit operates simultaneously in both the military and civilian domains, providing end-to-end operational, maintenance, and logistics services.
On the military side, the company supports the Air Force Flight Academy with Ofer helicopters, Efroni and Lavi aircraft; provides logistics for the Hofit/Tzofit reconnaissance fleets; performs inspections for Beechcraft B200 aircraft; and delivers avionics support for F-16 squadrons at Air Force bases.
On the civilian side, under Civil Aviation Authority regulations, Snunit operates Grob 120s during the screening stage at the Flight Academy, maintains Israel Police Airbus helicopters used for patrol and search operations, and flies the national AT802 firefighting fleet deployed at several airfields across the country.
Alongside the Units in the Field
What distinguishes Snunit is how it works. Its technicians, mechanics, and pilots are embedded with customers in the field – wearing civilian badges but working shoulder to shoulder with military and emergency units.
“Our people are Air Force veterans,” says Katabi. “They bring a unique organizational culture, high professional standards, and personal responsibility to every sortie and every maintenance task.”
Customer confidence is reflected in the data: Snunit consistently reports very high satisfaction rates in surveys. “We run internal evaluations all the time,” Katabi adds, “because even with such results, we know there’s always room to improve.”
The October 7 Test
On October 7, 2023, Snunit’s hybrid model faced an extreme test. Operational activity surged dramatically, including the need to relocate aircraft for protection while meeting unprecedented demand for flight hours.
“F-16 flight hours skyrocketed,” Katabi recalls. “That meant a massive increase in logistics, spare parts, manpower, and availability windows. And in firefighting, we continued to operate under rocket fire, adhering to civilian aviation restrictions and safety rules. It stretched every system we had.”
The police aviation fleet also operated nonstop as part of the national security effort. “Every special-unit sortie, every rescue and evacuation – our teams were there behind it,” he says.
Katabi sums it up simply: “Snunit represents stability, trust, and a portfolio unmatched in Israel, with more than 140 employees and around 50 additional personnel working through subcontractors – all deployed across Air Force bases and civilian airfields. Snunit is a quiet but vital part of the backbone of the Israeli Air Force, the Israel Police, and Israeli aviation as a whole, a place where training sorties, firefighting missions, and police patrols all rely on the same central service engine that keeps everything running.”
