Israel is developing a mechanism to prevent the abduction of its soldiers

The Department of Weapons Development in the Israeli Ministry of Security recently concluded a study of several offers between Israeli and foreign companies to develop a new army unit that will allow locating any soldier in a populated area and helping him reach the goal.

According to a report published by the Yediot Ahronot newspaper on its website, such devices are available to soldiers in the ground forces, but they rely on GPS systems and face two major problems.

The first is that "the enemy uses devices to jam the GPS signals, and the second is that this technology has difficulties in broadcasting continuously inside buildings in populated areas."

The Ministry of Security decided to implement this process by means of a new mechanism. Instead of carrying out studies and a long and costly development process of three to five years, the companies that participated in the competition were asked to offer their equipment within several months. About a month ago, the equipment was tested at the military base of Tze'elim to ensure its effectiveness.

About 90 Israeli and foreign companies submitted proposals to the Ministry of Security, ten of which reached the final stages. A large Israeli security industry and a small local company obtained the first two places. The Ministry of Security and the Technology Division of the ground forces are examining the various devices. The final is a merger between them.

According to the report, the operation is being carried out in cooperation with the US military and other official US development agencies, and the troops will be able to be provided to the agency in 2020.

The report said that the ultimate goal of the device is to work within the tunnels, and the report did not rule out that - in the near future - the integration of another technology, namely locating the images in the fighting area documented by the device during the movements of the soldier, based on a stock of images loaded inside .

It is supposed to allow the army to thwart attempts to kidnap soldiers, which the report considers a central goal of both the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Hezbollah in every confrontation.