Restricted. Minefield (Archives)
צילום: אביהו שפירא
Military mulling purchase of remote minesweeper
Upcoming Tel Aviv Defense Expo to feature innovative remote landmine detection robot. Defense establishment said to be considering acquisition; expo to feature 50 companies
One of the main attractions at the Israel Defense Exposition scheduled to take place at the Tel Aviv's Trade Fairs Center next week will be an innovative mine-sweeping robot.
The state-of-the-art remote landmine detection robot, which resembles a plow, was developed by a Slovakian company at the United Nation's request.
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The robot is able to detect and extract a wide array of landmines without its handler being present nearby, thus not endangering human lives.
Israel has minefields in the Golan Heights, Jordan Rift Valley, Galilee and the south's Arabah region. All are restricted military zones and civilians are not allowed to enter them.
Nevertheless, people do inadvertently wander into minefields: The most recent case took place in early 2009, when a resident of Wadi Ara was killed after entering a minefield near Beit She'an.
The three-day expo will see representatives from over 50 companies try to convince Israeli defense officials to purchase their technologies.
The robot is currently offered for NIS 2.5 million (about $670,000) per unit.
Reuven Weiss contributed to this report
