TEL AVIV ø Israel has unveiled a low-technology system meant to
ensure quick response to attempts by suicide bombers to enter buses and
other public facilities.
The system, produced by the state-owned Israel Military Industries, does
not contain the ability to detect explosives or a suicide bomber. Instead,
the system allows a bus driver to quickly prevent a suspicious passenger
from boarding or a security guard to block an attacker from entering a
facility.
The IMI system, valued at more than $200,000 and demonstrated on
Thursday, features a turnstile at the entrance to the bus that allows the
driver prevent a suspected attacker from boarding. The system also includes
a sheet of armor on the front of the bus to trap shrapnel should a suicide
attacker detonate his bomb outside the bus.
Another feature includes an electronic gate at the back door that allows
the driver to stop or detect anybody trying to sneak aboard. Suicide bombers
have used the back door of buses to avoid detection by the driver.
"This system can be deployed in situations other than on buses," IMI
director-general Udi Ganani said. "It can be employed to stop bombs in
shopping malls and other facilities."
Ganani stressed that IMI's solution was meant to increase protection
against rather than prevent suicide attacks. He said the company was asked
in November 2003 by the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to develop
an interim solution to suicide bombers.
IMI executives said the company would continue to develop the system.
They said the next phase would be the development of an electronic system
that could detect explosives. The system would trigger an alarm so that the
bus driver or security guards could quickly close the doors of vehicles or
facilities.
"We were flooded with all sorts of proposals," Israeli Transportation
Minister Avigdor Lieberman said. "It wasn't easy to screen them."
Officials said the ministry would launch a pilot project in which the
IMI system will be installed in five buses over the next three weeks. If
deemed successful, the system would be installed in hundreds of commuter
buses during the second half of 2004.
