Israeli border tanks to have shields

JERUSALEM, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Israeli tanks equipped with a special protective shield against anti-tank missiles will soon be deployed along the Gaza Strip border, the army said.

The Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems manufactured the Windbreaker system, which is marketed abroad as Trophy and is designed to neutralize anti-tank missiles at different ranges, Haaretz said.

The Windbreaker protective system has the ability to rapidly detect any anti-tank threat and neutralize it, Rafael's Web site said. The system can operate in all weather conditions and engage several threats from different directions simultaneously, the manufacturer said.

A decision to equip the tanks with the defensive shield stems from military intelligence assessments that anti-tank missile attacks by terrorists in Gaza will increase in the near future, the newspaper said.

Terror groups operating in Gaza have different kinds of anti-tank missiles in their possession, including advanced models -- sophisticated systems smuggled into Gaza via tunnels, officials said.

Earlier this month, an Israeli tank patrolling the border sustained significant damage after it was hit by an anti-tank missile fired from Gaza but the crew was not injured, the newspaper said.