Learning from Israel

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Wednesday October 16th, 2013

 THE Government is rebuilding its defence force, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said.

He told Israel defence officials during his visit to the Israel Aerospace Industry this week that PNG could be using some of their defence force products in the rebuilding process.

“We will not be as advanced as you are but we are determined to build the capability of our Defence Force using some of your products tailored to our needs,” he said.

O’Neill spent the first day of his visit to Israel by visiting the key defence establishments on Monday. He was given a briefing in the Israeli missile defence and attack capabilities.

His delegation were treated to a 3D presentation of how the Israeli Defence Force responded to enemy missile attacks and how the Jewish nation would launch an offensive to neutralise threats against it.

The delegation was impressed that Israel had the necessary and the latest military technology to address any threat.

The Israel Aerospace Industry is a leading aerospace company fully owned by the government. 

While its main client is the Israeli Defence Force, 80% of the sale of its technology is to overseas clients.

Its officials made a presentation on how some of their products could be used to secure the PNG-Indonesian border from illegal activities, effective surveillance of the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (maritime), monitor illegal logging and illegal mining practices and securing the LNG project.   

He also visited the Israel Military Industry where young people were given rigorous training in counter-terrorism, VIP protection and national intelligence.

O’Neill said he was impressed with the visit to the establishments.

“While many of the technology we saw today are beyond our budget, we can learn from some of these aspects and tailor them for our purpose,” he said.

“Today, we visited the counter-terrorism institute. We may send some of our own people to such training facilities to prepare them for the 2018 APEC summit which will be held in PNG.”