Order Backlog
The cumulative dollar value of signed contracts a defense prime has yet to deliver. The most-cited disclosed metric for comparing revenue visibility across primes. Elbit Systems disclosed backlog above $24B as of 2025.
The Order Backlog is the cumulative dollar value of signed contracts a defense prime has yet to deliver. It is the single most-cited disclosed metric used to compare visibility and revenue durability across publicly traded defense companies.
For Israeli defense, the metric has become structurally important since October 7, 2023. The three Israeli primes — Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems — have all reported sustained backlog expansion driven by NATO and Indo-Pacific demand for air-defense, loitering munitions, electro-optical systems, and active protection systems. Elbit alone disclosed an order backlog above $24 billion as of 2025.
The Israeli primes' combined backlog has converged with — and in some sub-segments exceeded — the equivalent disclosed visibility at peer Western primes such as Lockheed Martin, RTX, and Rheinmetall, on a much smaller revenue base. The Olam covers the Order Backlog as a recurring quarterly index alongside disclosed defense-tech financings.