Israel Defense Forces will announce Monday an NIS 27 million investment in a new cellular system that will alert citizens in case of a missile attack.

Open gallery view Damage made to Nahariya home by Katyusha rocket during Gaza War Jan. 8, 2009 Credit: Dror Artzi

The cellular application, developed by Israeli high-tech company eViglio, in cooperation with Ericsson, is expected to be activated June 2011.

The project commenced following the Second Lebanon War and operation Cast Lead, during which Israel's home front was attacked by missiles, prompting the need for a national missile alert system.

eViglio won the bid to develop the system, which is part of effort made by IDF's Home Front Command to integrate all emergency alerts in Israel into one centralized system. eViglio's system allows alerts to be sent to cell phones, television and radio stations, web sites and billboards.

With the new system, alerts will be sent to different geographic regions according to the relevant threat. Home Front Command will be able to select a specific area and send a pre-programmed or free text message with the appropriate procedures for the home front.

The system enables sending alerts in several languages simultaneously (Hebrew, English, Russian, Arabic and Amharic), and can also be used to notify citizens in cases of natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes.