{"id":58561,"date":"2018-06-25T16:24:46","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T16:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/06\/25\/the-international-impact-of-israels-underground-iron-dome\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:19:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:19:43","slug":"the-international-impact-of-israels-underground-iron-dome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/industry\/techwatch\/2018\/06\/25\/the-international-impact-of-israels-underground-iron-dome\/","title":{"rendered":"The international impact of Israel\u2019s underground Iron Dome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JERUSALEM \u2015 The U.S. and Israel are continuing joint work to improve tunnel detection, specifically those used by militant organizations such as Hamas and the Islamic State group. The collaboration will continue through 2020, and this year\u2019s budget is expected to reach similar levels as the $80 million the U.S. contributed in 2016-2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tunnel warfare isn\u2019t new, and the joint effort against the threat brings together experience that Israel and the U.S. have from current and previous conflicts. The U.S. confronted extensive tunnel systems in Vietnam. However, militant groups are increasingly resorting to tunnels as a way to avoid surveillance by drones and other aerial assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As technology improves, adversaries have sought to counter such innovation by digging deeper and more complex tunnel systems. In Iraq, for instance, ISIS honeycombed cities with tunnels whose exits were contained inside civilian homes, hidden from aerial view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Marine Corps trained with Israeli paratroopers in March on combating the tunnel threat, and research and development funding stands to benefit both countries in developing technology, such as acoustic-detection systems, that will aid in future battlefields and modern threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part Juniper Cobra 2018 exercise in March, the Marines and the Israel Defense Forces participated in a variety of drills. The sub-exercise Kaya Green, for example, included training aimed at learning from Israel\u2019s experience in tunnel warfare. This built on major strides Israel has made over the last decade in engineering, intelligence and use of technology to find and destroy tunnels.<\/p>\n\n\n

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For the fourth time in three months, Israel employed what is being called here its \u201csteel dome\u201d to detect and destroy a cross-border tunnel from the Gaza Strip.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

\u201cWe did a joint training session with them, fighting side by side, with the armored vehicles, and the way they used them was really effective,\u201d Lt. Ron Semel told the Times of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last six months, Israel has detected and destroyed several impressive tunnels constructed by Hamas. One of these tunnels sought to reach into Egypt and was struck in January. Israel has called its strategy of using technology and intelligence to combat the tunnel threat a \u201csteel dome\u201d<\/a> in contrast to its Iron Dome system that confronts missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first week of June, the IDF destroyed a tunnel in Gaza with an airstrike. Unlike most of the tunnels built by Hamas \u2015 which are built to penetrate Israel or used for smuggling from Egypt \u2015 this one was built underwater to allow Hamas seaborne commandos to move undetected at sea. It was almost 3 meters deep and only 3 kilometers from Israel\u2019s border, an IDF spokesman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the tunnel-detection systems Israel has been pioneering with U.S. support has wider implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geographically speaking, U.S. lawmakers have pointed to North Korean subterranean tunnels as a reason to boost U.S.-Israel research and development efforts against this growing threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, 56 members of Congress wrote in a joint letter to the Committee on Appropriations\u2018 Defense Subcommittee that \u201cour own nation faces similar threats [to those in Israel]. In Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, ISIS has used subterranean passages to smuggle weapons, avoid detection, ambush troops and launch tunnel bomb attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t