The IDF announced it will soon unveil a new radar system that will greatly improve the warning time Israelis will have in the case of incoming rockets from the Gaza Strip.

The radar, which was developed by the army, will become operational next month in southern Israeli communities bordering the Hamas-controlled Strip.

Residents will now have an extra seven to eight seconds to seek shelter between the time the missile is launched and the siren sounds warning of imminent impact.

More significantly, the radar now allows sirens to be triggered early enough in places where warning times were nonexistent or inadequate, such as Sderot, which has an approximate 10-15 second warning time.

During last summer’s war with Gaza, various soldiers and Israeli civilians were killed in rocket attacks when mortar shells launched by terrorists exploded with very little to no warning.

In one instance, four-year-old Daniel Tragerman was killed outside his family home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz when a rocket exploded. Residents in Nahal Oz have only three seconds to reach a shelter.

Following lessons learned from Operation Protective Edge, the IDF has begun to institute new policies and technologies to combat threats posed by Hamas and other terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

According to a Channel 2 report, the IDF announced on Sunday plans to build a “smart barrier” between Israel and the Strip. The barrier will be similar to the one currently in place along the border with Egypt, including advanced technological systems to detect above and below ground movement.

The project, which Haaretz estimates is around NIS 500 million ($127 million), is currently awaiting approval by political leaders.