An Iranian missile carrying a large warhead struck near the fence of the Aero Sol Aviation Solutions factory in Petah Tikva, destroying the facility. The company supplies pilot helmets, bomb components and drones to Israel’s defense industries and the IDF.
The impact on Thursday left a large crater, and the blast caused extensive damage to production machinery and offices. Earlier that same day, before the strike, the company had been featured in a report on our sister site, Ynet in Hebrew.
Crash site of missile from Iran in Petah Tikva
(Video: Photo: Reuters, according to Section 27A of the Copyright Law)
“First of all, there’s a good chance they did,” Vaserlauf said. “I’m not claiming we’re the backbone of the war, but they’re not stupid — they’re smart. There’s the internet, we show up on Google, there are coordinates. They know everything.”
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The factory in Petah Tikvah was destroyed
(Photo: Erik Marmor/Getty Images)
Asked whether the information could have come from operatives inside Israel, he said this was unlikely. “From the outside, you can’t really see who we are or what we do. We’re at the edge of the industrial zone and we keep a low profile. It says Aero Sol, but no one knows it’s a defense factory. We don’t expose ourselves too much, but anything is possible — you can’t know.”
According to Vaserlauf, the damage to the facility is so severe that operations cannot resume there. “The blast dismantled the entire structure. Everything was blown to pieces — a total loss,” he said. “Some equipment survived, a lot of data, production files, computers — all the critical information. We managed to recover a great deal of data and key components, and even some drones survived, along with customer molds. Overall, the damage looks huge, but when you get into the details, our situation is actually not bad.”
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CEO Israel Vaserlauf in the destroyed factory
(Photo: Courtesy of Aero Sol)
He said rebuilding on the same site is unlikely. “The factory will have to be demolished completely, and then the property owner will decide what to do. But we’re strong, we’re moving forward. Valorex, which partnered with us, is backing us and hasn’t given up on us.”
Vaserlauf said he does not expect a long-term disruption in supplying critical equipment to the IDF. “Everything has been restored, all the knowledge is backed up. What we need now is to reestablish production lines,” he said. “Within a week we’ll restore the critical lines — if not in our facility, then at Elbit or within the military. There’s a delay, it’s frustrating, it’s not easy. But we’ll do what’s needed.”
He estimated the damage at around 15 million shekels, including about 4 million shekels in recent investments, as well as machinery, equipment and raw materials. “The question now is whether we’ll have to start fighting with the property tax authority,” he added. “I can’t spend two years rebuilding, invest another 10 million shekels and then ask to be reimbursed. I don’t have that kind of money.”
Employees, he said, responded with determination. “They were incredible. Everyone showed up, even at night. They didn’t go home, stayed until Shabbat,” he said. “We dismantled what was left of the factory and salvaged everything we could. We updated all our clients on the status of molds, projects and products.”
Vaserlauf said the company has received strong support, with clients offering advance payments and defense manufacturers proposing to host its production lines. The company plans to begin searching for a new site immediately.
“This is small for us,” he said. “We’re encouraged, in good spirits, and getting support from across the industry and from our customers. This is the kind of thing you turn into momentum — you rebuild it and come out stronger. We’re not breaking. Our drones survived, the knowledge survived, and the people survived.”
