The Israeli Ministerial Committee on Procurements approved a new defense plan for northern Israel worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Kan News reported on Sunday.
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The regional active defense plan involves creating a significant boost to the area's ability to deal with missile and rocket attacks through local command and control centers. It involves the purchases of Iron Dome interceptor missiles and radars, among other equipment.
"A similar maneuver was approved and implemented a few years ago in the southern area at a cost of NIS 140 million," noted the report. "Now, the price estimate is higher to enable a better means of dealing with the existing threats. The approval also includes underground command and control systems for operating the systems."
The plan is designed to cope with threats from Iran, its proxy Hezbollah and other hostile elements near the border.
Earlier this month, the Israel Defense Forces released information about the interception of two Iranian UAVs en route to Israel from the east and the south carrying firearm deliveries for Palestinian terror groups. They were downed last year with F-35 jets that fired missiles.
Wednesday saw the Israeli Air Force take possession of the now operational Sky Dew aerial threat warning system, which will be used to detect advanced airborne threats and will join the corps' monitoring framework.
The system comprises a blimp that flies at a high altitude and is equipped with radar and detection systems that cover a wide area in all directions. Sky Dew is one of the world's largest such alert systems and it contains a number of sensors to detect some of the sky's greatest dangers from a high altitude.
In an event attended by a number of defense officials, the balloon was formally transferred from Israel's Defense Ministry to the IAF.
Moshe Patel, the head of Israel's Missile Defense Organization, said that the alert system will "change reality."
"The Sky Dew system was a challenging mission that we set for ourselves about a decade ago and it is being handed over to the air force today in preparation for its transformation into an operational warning system," he explained.
Sky Dew is planned to deploy in Israel's north to monitor threats along the border there. In recent weeks, drones crossing into Israel's airspace from nearby Lebanon have prompted alarm from Israel's officials.
"The aerial detection balloon will sail at high altitude, will observe long distances and will allow maximum detection capability of advanced threats from different directions," Patel said.
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