VZCZCXYZ0011
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #3359 3331207
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291207Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7579
INFO RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1602
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0917
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS CAIRO 003359 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PTER MASS MARR MOPS EG
SUBJECT: EGYPT SIGNS LETTER OF REQUEST FOR BORDER EQUIPMENT 
AND TRAINING 
 
REF: CAIRO 3308 
 
¶1.  (SBU) We have received a Letter of Request (LOR) from the 
Egyptian Procurement Office, dated November 27, requesting 
the $23 million in equipment and training recommended by the 
Army Corps of Engineers-led survey team.  The team, headed by 
Dr. Jason McKenna of the Army Corps of Engineers, was in 
Egypt earlier this month to assess the situation at the 
Egypt-Gaza border and to make recommendations for tunnel 
detection and network mapping equipment to increase the 
security of that border. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Based on the team's briefing at the MOD on November 
21, Minister of Defense Tantawi instructed the Egyptian 
Armaments Authority to submit an LOR according to the team's 
recommendations.  (A scanned version of the LOR has been 
passed to NEA/ELA separately.) 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Equipment requested in the LOR includes the 
following: 
-Unmanned Group Vehicles (5) 
-Install along 8 km affixed-emplacement, passive 
seismic-acoustic tunnel activity detection system to identify 
new construction and recurring use of existing tunnels, with 
all required installation and three years maintenance and 
spare parts; 
-Handheld thermal imaging devices (50); 
-Overwatch IR cameras (10); 
-Land-Mobile Electromagnetic Induction (EMI) systems (ATV 
Towed) (2); 
-Truck-mounted drilling rig (3); 
-Outfit a command and control center at a site designated by 
MOD; 
-Training; 
-Sustainment training with TLA; and 
-Follow on site survey support for the US Army Engineer R&D 
team. 
 
Next steps 
---------- 
¶4.  (SBU) OMC Egypt is working with McKenna and his team to 
get the technical specifications for the equipment and parts 
needed for the project.  OMC and the Egyptian Armament 
Authority will pursue a sole source waiver for some of the 
equipment including, for example, small robots for use in the 
tunnels, to speed the purchasing process.  Assuming that they 
can put the technical specs together in the next few days, 
OMC hopes to review the request with the Egyptian Armaments 
Authority and to submit it to USASAC by December 10.  They 
expect to submit the sole source waiver request at the same 
time.  The ultimate goal is to get a Letter of Offer and 
Acceptance (LOA) back from USASAC by January 15.  At that 
point, the MOD would sign the LOA and begin implementation of 
the procurement. 
RICCIARDONE