IDF releases new app to warn of 'security incidents'
The IDF's Home Front command has released a
new app to warn of 'security incidents.' The app is available for Android and iPhones, is free, but is
only visible in Israel.
The application, detailed in a call with
reporters Monday, was developed by a staff of some 15 people in the Home
Front Command, which oversees civilian preparedness. It was launched
this month on Android and Apple devices.
Called “Home Front Command,” the application aims to improve on
several civilian-developed counterparts that alert Israelis to the
warning sirens that blare ahead of incoming missiles. Those applications
gained popularity during the 2014 war in Gaza, but alert users to every
siren across the country.
The IDF’s alternative will track users based on their GPS location,
and alert them only to threats in their immediate area. It will cover a
range of emergencies — from earthquakes to terror attacks to incoming
rockets. In addition to warning users of the threat, the application
will provide instructions on how to respond. It will be available in
four languages — Hebrew, English, Arabic and Russian — though it will
not be available for download outside Israel.
In addition to the sirens spread throughout the country, the Home
Front Command sends text message warnings to Israelis’ phones and
broadcasts them on the TV and radio. Lt. Col. Shlomi Maman, the Home
Front Command’s alert branch commander, said the army wants to localize
warnings as much as possible — even by neighborhood — so as to avoid
needlessly worrying civilians.
“We view a warning that reaches a citizen who didn’t need to receive
it just like someone who needed to receive [a warning] and did not,”
Maman said in the briefing. “This project is to make it more selective.”
I wonder how Israelis will feel about the IDF knowing their location all times (theoretically). Hmmm.
Labels: borders and security, early warning system, IDF Home Front Command, iPhone
Turkey to host NATO early warning radar system
Turkey has agreed to
host a NATO early warning radar system as part of NATO's missile defense shield.
A ministry statement emailed to journalists said discussions on NATO-member Turkey's contribution to the alliance missile defence shield had reached "their final stages."
It did not say when or where the U.S. early warning radar would be stationed.
NATO members agreed to an anti-missile system over Europe to protect against Iranian ballistic missiles at a summit in Lisbon last year. A compromise was reached with Turkey, which has cultivated close ties with its neighbour Iran and had threatened to block the deal if Iran is explicitly named as a threat.
Under the NATO plans, a limited system of U.S. anti-missile interceptors and radars already planned for Europe — to include interceptors in Romania and Poland as well as the radar in Turkey — would be linked to expanded European-owned missile defences. That would create a broad system that protects every NATO country against medium-range missile attack.
Turkey has built close economic ties with Iran and has been at odds with the United States on its stance toward Iran's nuclear program, arguing for a diplomatic solution to the standoff instead of sanctions.
But the agreement over hosting the radar comes at a time when Turkey and Iran appear to be differing on their approach toward Syria, with Turkey becoming increasingly critical of Iranian ally Syria's brutal suppression of anti-regime protests.
The ministry statement made no mention of Iran. It said the system would strengthen both NATO and Turkey's own defence capacities.
But there's another issue here. Turkey was opposed to real-time sharing of the information with Israel. The US has apparently told Turkey there is
nothing they can do to stop that sharing.
U.S. officials told Turks that the United States has a "separate and robust" missile defense relationship with Israel, where the United States based a high-powered X-Band radar in 2008 to bolster Israel's missile defenses. The system is identical to the radar going to Turkey.
That radar can track any Iranian missile aimed at Israel.
But the U.S. made clear that data from any U.S. radars around the world may be fused with other data to maximize the effectiveness of its missile defenses.
Turkey agreed to station the radar on its territory to shore up its relations with NATO and to improve its relations with the US. Given that the Turks have just expelled Israel's ambassador to Turkey, they probably decided they had to do something to keep relations with the US from getting any worse.
More
here.
Labels: early warning system, Iran, NATO, Turkey, x-band radar
