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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIsraeli soldiers operate within the Gaza Strip to find and disable Hamas tunnels and eliminate their threat to Israeli civilians.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo Credit: Israel Defense Forces via Flickr<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n In a recent interview, two Pentagon officials said the US has been working with Israel since 2008 on counter-tunnel technologies. In 2016, the Pentagon received $40 million to expand the bilateral program, about $33 million of which has already been spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The $40 million in congressionally appropriated funding is for two years, with Israel expected to fund an equal amount in cash or in kind. “Our mandate is that this is to be 50-50 cost sharing and that our tasks have to be mutually beneficial,” one of the Pentagon officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The joint program is being implemented on the Israeli side by the Defense Ministry\u2019s MAFAT directorate for defense research and development. On the US side, it is being implemented under a teaming arrangement between three Pentagon organizations, under the supervision of the office of acquisition, technology and logistics, as well as the office for special operations and low-intensity conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two sides meet every six months to chart progress, and they recently updated a memorandum of understanding to allow for extended cooperation through 2025, provided congressional funding continues to flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In mid-November, a Pentagon team visited Israel to review five separate, ongoing projects and to discuss a possible sixth project to begin in 2017\u00a0\u2014\u00a0all geared toward detecting, mapping and operating in the underground domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This program is focused exclusively on developing new technologies and systems. If and when they are ready for production\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and we understand they may have had a breakthrough in this regard\u00a0\u2014\u00a0then that will require a separate funding stream,” one of the officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n He added that all Pentagon labs are represented in bilateral meetings, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a November 23 interview, an IDF general officer confirmed that the two sides met the previous week to chart their program for 2017. He also acknowledged progress in the anti-tunnel realm, yet declined to provide specifics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We\u2019re working hard; we\u2019re testing and I can tell you there has been progress,” the officer said. “This is not a threat exclusive to Israel, but one that we\u2019ve been engaged with in a very intense way. But fruits of our joint work with Washington will also support US interests, given the tunnel threat in Mosul, Raka, Afghanistan or even along their southern border.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to its border with Gaza, Israel has recently deployed a border barrier along some 215 kilometers of its desert frontier with Egypt to guard against Islamic State forces and other militants operating in Sinai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like the sensor-fused barrier fence along the Gaza periphery, the border barrier with Egypt is supported by an integrated multi-sensor command-and-control network provided by Elbit Systems. The network is an extension of Elbit\u2019s Digital Army Program that has been operational with the IDF for about a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We are the leading border protection activity in Israel. We are delivering our solution obviously to the IDF, but not only,” said Udi Vered, Elbit executive vice president and general manager of the firm\u2019s Land and C4I Division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Vered, the C4I network guarding Israel\u2019s borders integrates a full spectrum of sensors, not all of them provided by Elbit. “We have great experience in integrating existing sensors and it doesn\u2019t matter who is the subcontractor or the manufacturer of those sensors,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similar capabilities have been provided by the firm\u2019s Fort Worth, Texas-based facility, Elbit USA, to secure the US southern border under a $145 million border surveillance program called Integrated Fixed Towers (IFT). Like the systems in place along Israel\u2019s borders, IFT provides border patrol agents “long-range, 360-degree, all-weather, persistent surveillance capability \u2026 with a high degree of situational awareness,” according to the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Different Threats From the North<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n At Israel\u2019s northern borders with Lebanon and territory in Syria that is now controlled by anti-regime extremist groups, Israel is wary of the possibility for tunnels but is focusing its efforts for a different threat: a full assault by Lebanese-based Hezbollah or its allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Up north, we view the threat differently,” Lerner said. “The topography is completely different, so what we\u2019ve done on the border with Lebanon, we\u2019ve created artificial cliffs that create an extremely difficult terrain for forces to easily storm into a civilian community or a military base along the border.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lerner noted there are 22 civilian communities “literally in arm\u2019s reach” from the border, which required a different, three-part defense mechanism: the physical border itself, which extends above and below ground; advanced surveillance capabilities for early warning; and crack rapid-reaction forces to respond to any threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n “Radical Islamic elements at our borders make them extremely volatile and unpredictable. We need to be ready for potential spillover at any given moment,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fortification of Israel\u2019s northern border began more than a year ago and is an ongoing project. In parallel, Israel has prepared an evacuation plan should the border come under attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “If Hezbollah forces storm into Israel, they\u2019ll find themselves alone facing the full might of the IDF,” Lerner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n