The Home Front Command is developing a steel cylindrical contraption which will serve as a street notice board and double as a shelter during missile attacks.
The shelter-cum-notice board is similar in shape to cylindrical structures on which notices are plastered, which have been in use on Israeli sidewalks for decades. The advertising space on the boards is taken up by municipal notices, public service messages, advertisements for cultural events and films, etc.
The planned structures will mimic these message boards but will double as bomb shelters. They will be made of steel and be hollow inside. During a missile attack alert, passersby will be able to open a door into the cylindrical structures and find shelter within.
According to the IDF magazine BaMachaneh, the Home Front Command's Fortification Department intends to test prototypes of the contraption in the coming months and evaluate their safety before placing them in the main streets of communities under threat of missile attack from Gaza.
Running for shelter (BaMachaneh composite photo)
Fortified Bus Stops
The department is also looking into the possibility of developing fortified bus stops made of steel that will be able to withstand a direct hit from missiles. This initiative has yet to receive final approval within the Home Front Command and in the relevant government offices.
The fortified bus stops and other outdoor bomb shelters currently in place in Sderot and the Gaza Belt are made of concrete. However, "steel is much better than concrete," according to Maj. Yehuda Kfir, Commander of the Home Front's Fortification Department. "It provides a better level of protection without adding weight to the bus station, thus making it easier to transport in case of need," he explained.
The new bus stops will also serve as safe spaces in IDF bases within range of terrorist rockets in southern and northern Israel. "In the Second Lebanon War and in Cast Lead, the missile launchers saw IDF bases as targets," said Maj. Kfir. "That is why we decided to convert the bus stops into safe spaces that will serve the soldiers and enable the units to function without meaningful disruption."
The Home Front Command also intends to fit steel "protective suits" atop tractors used by farmers in the Gaza Belt. The tractor operators will be able to remove the heavy protective "suits" from the tractors when their protection is not required, in order to minimize the damage caused to the tractor by the protection's added weight.
The Home Front Command's plans for new means of fortification will require government approval and funding.