The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has announced the launch of the Raz Radar System, which will enhance the IDF's ability to anticipate, and react, to high-trajectory weapons.

Eight years in development, the system is expected to be fully operational by 2010.

''The system will be able to identify rocket fire, pinpoint its origin and accurately triangulate landing sites,'' said Lt Col Moshe Kipnis, head of the Raz project.

''Existing systems can identify rocket fire within an 18-30-mile range. The new system will allow us to triple that,'' said chief artillery officer Brig Gen David Savisa.

Operational clearance for the system was achieved in July, after months of rigorous testing in the Negev area. According to IDF sources, the experiments tested Raz system's ability to take on hundreds of varieties of rockets. According to Lt Col Kipnis, the system, ''...lived up to all our expectations.''

The Israel army has been working on the system along with ALTA, an Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary.

Raz has the ability to ''talk'' to other systems, i.e. - communicate real-time information to the air force, for example, which will make possible an immediate strike on the location from which the fire originated.

A test model of the Raz radar system was used during the last few days of Operation Cast Lead against the Hamas in Gaza and IDF sources say it proved to be highly successful.

According to Brig Gen David Savisa, the system successfully pinpointed everything that was fired towards Israeli territory. "The Raz radar system pinpoints anything that flies aloft in great depth," he said.

The Raz radar system provides hermetic pinpointing against mortar shells, which for Israeli residents living in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip is the single most terrifying weapon.

However, according to Lt Col Kipnis, the system was developed with more than just Gaza rocket fire on southern Israel in mind: ''Gaza is not the only scenario we have been considering. There are many other, more complex scenarios.''

The Raz Radar will be manned by 20-man artillery corps teams. The teams will also be tasked with protecting the systems, should it come under attack.