Earlier this week, Magal Security Systems announced a $1.25 million agreement with a South African commercial port. According to the Israel Export & International Cooperation Institute, "This new sea port project ... will include (a) security fence, control systems, security cameras and other facilities."

The company made the announcement several weeks after closing a smaller deal with the Israeli port in Ashdod.

"With over 10,000 kilometers of systems installed worldwide, The Magal Group of Companies has a 40 percent share in the worldwide market for Perimeter Intrusion Detection Systems market. The Group's consolidated revenues in the year 2004 were $61 million," the company said.

The Magal Group includes New York-based Smart Interactive Systems Inc., a real-time video-monitoring security services company, and Virginia-based Dominion Wireless Inc., which "specializes in applying advanced radio frequency transmission and locating technologies," Magal said.

Meanwhile, Spectronix, a manufacturer and distributor of fire detection and suppression systems for military applications, announced the company had negotiated a contract worth $3.8 million with the U.S. Army and the Marines.

"Spectronix announced the company received another order for the MRAP project ... as part of the cooperation with BAE, one of the largest armored fighting vehicles in the United States," the Export Institute said. "The extent of Spectronix's activity in the military field has increased substantially in the last two years, mainly due to the growth of demand and budgets in the U.S. Army. Spectronix concentrates on five main areas for its military market: the United States, South America, Europe, South Asia and Israel."

In the military aviation sector, Elbit Systems opened the new year with the announcement of a new product, the JedEyes helmet-mounted display.

The company said: "JedEyes addresses the special needs of helicopter pilots and offers dramatic improvements over existing HMDs, not only through its ultra-wide Field of View, but also by providing razor-sharp, high resolution imagery and allowing pilots to take in wider-than-ever areas of ground and sky."

Elbit said: "JedEyes is no longer an option, but an essential when survival depends on pinpointing targets, accurate firing and regressing the area as quickly as possible.

"Its risk-reduction advantages include shortened targeting time since the super-wide field of view enables viewing from greater distances, thus offering more time to prepare as well as substantially shortening exposure time in hostile situations. Additionally, the system warns of dangerous environments and guides the pilot to secure waypoints via the shortest distance possible. Its 'Pass in the Sky' feature assures that the flight path passes outside of the threat."

While these deals are encouraging signs for another year of industry growth, this week has also highlighted security product challenges: The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that "the two Katyusha rockets fired against Israel from southern Lebanon early Tuesday were not identified by the Israel Defense Forces' early warning system."

"At the Home Front Command, they were quick to point out that the early warning system is not under their command, but is controlled by the Northern Command. They also said the system is not an automatic one and is put into operation based on situation assessments by the Northern Command," the newspaper said.

This gives Israeli defense companies the perfect opportunity to push the advanced missile defense systems they are developing.

A shield that protects Israel from 90 percent of rocket attacks will be up and running in the next few years, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset State Control Committee in October.

"We are giving high priority to the production of a system involving several projects, which, within a few years, will provide protection for Israel from about 90 percent of all attempts to fire rockets at us, from (Iranian) Shihab missiles to Qassams (from Gaza)," he said at that time. "In the longer range, we will have, for many reasons, to achieve a much higher interception level."

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