Trucks are seen reflected making their way through the Advanced Spectroscopic Portal (ASP) at the New York Container Terminal in New York April 11, 2007. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection (CBP) awarded its subsidiary a contract to deploy border surveillance technology in southern Arizona.

Known as the Integrated Fixed Tower contract, it includes a base period quantity and options that CBP may exercise over several years. Currently, CBP awarded the base period quantity for a portion of the $145 million total contract amount, to be implemented over one year, Elbit said on Sunday.

“Arizonans have been waiting more than a decade for the Department of Homeland Security to place the needed technology along our border to support the Border Patrol and fully secure our southern border,” U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona said in a separate statement.

“If this technology is developed, integrated and fielded correctly, these Integrated Fixed Towers in southern Arizona, coupled with the tremendous work of the Border Patrol, will give our agents the ability to detect, evaluate, and respond to all illegal entries crossing our border.”