What began as an internal initiative to protect soldiers on the battlefield is fast becoming something bigger. With Jessica Zandani’s forward-thinking approach to drone education and Itzhak Levit’s decades of strategic leadership, the Givati Drone Center is emerging as a model that global defense and technology circles are starting to take notice of.
“When we built this Center, we weren’t just thinking about the next mission, we were thinking about the next decade,” said Itzhak Levit, Chairman of the Givati Brigade Association. “Israel has always led in defense innovation, and now we have a platform that can carry that leadership even further, to partners and allies well beyond our borders.”
Levit’s experience guiding the Association for years gives the initiative a credibility that new ventures rarely start with. Under his direction, the Center was built not as a standalone project but as an extension of a proven institution, one already trusted for its work honoring Givati’s legacy and supporting its soldiers.
Jessica Zandani’s Next Chapter
While Levit brings institutional weight, Jessica Zandani is driving what comes next. As a Major Director of the Academy, Zandani has been developing new training frameworks that go beyond traditional military instruction, blending real-time field data, hands-on drone engineering, and lessons drawn directly from combat experience into a single curriculum.
“We are not just training operators, we are building innovators,” Zandani said. “Every soldier who comes through this program leaves with the ability to identify a problem in the field and actually build the solution. That is a completely different kind of capability, and it is one I believe the world is going to want to learn from.”
Zandani is now exploring how elements of the Center’s curriculum, particularly its rapid maintenance and 3D-printing-based hardware enhancement systems, could be adapted for training programs and partnerships outside Israel. “This started as something built for our soldiers,” she said. “But the more we develop it, the more we realize this model has value for any country serious about the future of unmanned systems.”
A Global Opportunity Rooted in Local Expertise
Together, Levit and Zandani represent the two forces now pushing the Givati Drone Center toward international relevance: institutional trust and hands-on innovation. Levit is already in conversations about how the Center’s model might inform broader defense partnerships, while Zandani continues to refine the training methodology that outside observers have called unlike anything currently offered elsewhere.
“We built something to save lives at home,” Levit said. “But the more the world sees what this Center can do, the more it becomes clear this is bigger than any one battlefield.”
Zandani echoed that ambition. “Israel has always exported knowledge and innovation in defense technology. I believe the Givati Drone Center is going to be part of that story, and I am excited for the world to see what we are building.”
