The Israel Defense Forces have developed new radar technology that can identify the launch of a mortar when it is fired.
The new system, expected to be operational by mid-October, will improve the warning alert system significantly – by seven or eight seconds – according to an IDF announcement Sunday.
The system has already been deployed in the Gaza Belt region, according to the IDF, where communities till now have had only five seconds in which to find shelter from shelling.
The new systems stretches that window to 12-13 seconds in which to make it to safety.
During last summer’s Operation Protective Edge, dozens of soldiers and civilians died due to the lack of an adequate window in which to find shelter under shelling from Gaza. The state is also implementing several other measures along the southern border to increase defense in the area.
A “smart” fence is to be constructed along the border with Gaza, which is to become part of a sophisticated “obstacle program” around the enclave.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced the construction of a new security fence along the eastern border.
“In the first stage, we will build it from Timna to Eilat in order to protect the airport being built there, and we will continue the fence up to the Golan Heights, where we have already built a strong security fence,” Netanyahu said.
A Jordanian government official told reporters Monday the Hashemite Kingdom has no problem with this plan. “The security fence along the border will be built on the Israeli side, and will not harm Jordanian sovereignty,” the spokesperson said.
In addition, the IDF is developing a wartime evacuation plan for communities in the region, something that was missing last summer. Instead, the decision to leave was left to civilians to implement personally on their own; many were hurt and several died as a result.
Mobile warning systems to alert exposed soldiers of incoming danger will also be added, after five soldiers were killed by mortar fire in a staging area for troops along the Gaza border.