The world’s highest fence against anti-tank missiles, closed-circuit cameras and radar equipment affixed to roughly 210-foot poles and a 21-mile security fence: This is just part of the defensive infrastructure that will make the Ramon International Airport safe.
Expected to open in March 2019, the airport is in the final stages of construction in the Timna Valley in southern Israel, near the resort city of Eilat.
The airport is named after the first Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, and his son Asaf Ramon, who died six years later when his F-16 fighter jet crashed in a training accident.
The 21-mile-long fence stands 20 feet tall, surpassing the 16-foot-tall security fence along the Egyptian border. It comes at a cost of nearly NIS 288 million ($80 million).
Additionally, due to concerns that terrorists would seek to target parked airplanes with sophisticated anti-tank missiles, a second 85-foot-tall fence was built along a roughly three-mile stretch. It consists of 186 pillars, 3 million screws and around 6,500 tons of steel.
“This is the highest anti-tank missile wall in the world,” said one individual involved in the project.
The total cost of the new airport is estimated to be around NIS 1.7 billion ($436.5 million). Construction began in 2013.
