Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Israel develops secure army mobile phone system

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 19:34:03 -0500

Israel develops secure army mobile phone system
 Wednesday November 13, 8:26 am ET
 By Gwen Ackerman

 TEL AVIV, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Israel's military said it planned to launch a cutting-edge
 secure mobile phone system that will be hard to disable and will ensure army brass can
 contact field commanders anytime, anywhere.

                                         Dubbed "Mountain Rose," the $90
                                         million system developed with
                                         Motorola Israel Ltd, a unit of
                                         Motorola (NYSE:MOT - News), is
                                         expected to revolutionise the
                                         modern battlefield once it becomes
                                         fully operational in 2004, according
                                         to army officials.

                                         "The system is basically for secure
                                         voice communications in the field,"
                                         said Colonel Avi Berger, head of the
                                         communication department in the
                                         military's Signal Corps.

                                         "It will also be valuable in a time of
                                         crisis because of its increased
                                         capacity and high survivability."

 By 2004, field commanders will no longer have to dash under fire to a secure mobile
 telecommunications unit but will have terminals sewn into their battle vests over which
 they will be able to receive and confirm instructions from top army brass.

 Natan Gidron, a senior Motorola executive, said the system and some of its robust
 handsets, like those designed for combat vehicles, are unique.

 "This is the first time that we have implemented a system like this using a standard
 system adapted to a military application," he said.

 Not even Motorola knows the secret behind the encryption and information security
 software developed by the Israeli army's Signal Corps, which has been embedded into
 its commercial TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio Access) system.

 RESILIENT SYSTEM

 TETRA, a highly sustainable cellular network, is the European standard for commercial
 dispatch systems and has been adapted by many public safety organisations.

 The Israeli army has bolstered the system's innate ability to remain operational even
 during heavy use by developing mobile cellular units that can be transported to sites of
 terror attacks or natural disasters.

 Until those units move in, users can revert to local trunking methods that run radio
 waves and allow for communication within a defined radius.

 "There are two levels of redundancy so that in the case of a real crisis the person with
 the device will be able to communicate," said Berger.

 In the future, commanders will be able to transmit and receive data over an advanced
 system running at a speed consistent with intermediate 2.5 generation mobile
 technology.

 Asked about possible security breaches should a Mountain Rose device fall into enemy
 hands, Berger said without elaboration that the army had ways of taking any handset
 out of service "so it can't be used against us".

 "We haven't made a special effort yet, but once the system is running, we shall try and
 offer it to other militaries as well," said Gidron, whose sales pitch would highlight the

 Mountain Rose encryption, transportable units and armoured vehicle installation.

 Berger was reluctant to say if other countries had shown interest in the system but said
 Mountain Rose could be implemented abroad without compromising Israeli security.

 "The secure implementation was done here in the army, and if someone is interested in
 it we will find a solution."

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