Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israeli Firm Picked To Build Trump Border Wall Prototype

(JTA) — Elta North America, an Israeli-owned defense manufacturer with U.S. headquarters in Maryland, was one of four companies chosen to build a prototype for the border wall between the United States and Mexico.

The company is a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries. Some 200 companies vied for the tenders, which will provide a $300,000 to $500,000 grant to develop a model. The tender was announced late last week.

In total, eight companies are building prototypes for the nearly 200,000-mile-long wall. Four will be concrete and four will have see-through or “smart” walls. Elta was chosen to work on the see-through walls project.

The final project could cost up to $25 billion.

Elta manufactures radar systems and components for branches of the American military. It also provides radar components for the Israeli military, which purchases them using U.S. military aid, which must be spent in the United States.  In its Israeli headquarters, Elta manufactures radar systems for Arrow missiles, the Iron Dome anti-missile system, espionage and fighter jets, according to Ynet.

President Donald Trump has praised Israel for its southern border wall meant to stop African migrants from illegally entering the country.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.