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Tel Aviv (CNSNews.com) -- It looks like a device from a science fiction or spy movie -- an invisible "shield" that surrounds an armored vehicle protecting it from anti-tank missiles and neutralizing them before they reach their target.

But the "Trophy" is an active protection system for armored fighting vehicles, developed by the Israeli military industry companies RAFAEL and ELTA for the Israeli Army. It is intended to protect armored vehicles, including tanks, against all types of anti-tank guided missiles and anti-tank rockets.

The system was one of many weapons-related systems displayed at a three-day conference and exhibition on "Low Intensity Conflict" (urban warfare), sponsored by the Israeli Army this week in Tel Aviv.

After four years of fighting an armed conflict against the Palestinians in the narrow streets of densely populated cities and refugee camps of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel has become one of the most experienced nations in the world in fighting what is called an "asymmetrical" war -- a war where an army must fight terror groups who are entrenched within the civilian population.

Maj. David Kanizo, head of doctrine branch in the Ground Forces Command, told the Cybercast News Service that the conference was organized because "the problem of fighting terror, of fighting guerrilla troops is not a private problem of Israel."

"This kind of warfare is the future warfare," Kanizo said. "All the armies have to prepare to deal with such kinds of armed conflict."

Nations have given up on the idea of making war between two armies, Kanizo said. Instead nations are forced to fight against political organizations or groups that want to achieve political goals by force, he said. "So the strategy of the weak [is to] make a small war."

Some 150 military and security-related officers and officials from 34 nations, including the US, Canada, Chili, Spain, Poland, Germany, Austria, Italy, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, India attended the conference.

Fifty-five companies as well as the Israeli Army participated in the exhibition.

Digital Army

Among the exhibitions, the Army showcased its developments in "digitizing" the Israeli Army - a complex, computerized system designed to make commanding battles more efficient and to save lives of soldiers and innocent civilians.

"The main advantage is allowing the commanders of all echelons to command and control, to make decisions in a more professional way, in a faster way, in an accurate way," said Lt. Col. Ofir Dor, Digital Army program officer.

"One of our biggest problems is we want to get the bad guys but we don't want to get the civilians," said Dor. "When we have a much better picture, [a] video picture and accurate location of our forces we make less mistakes."

Although the C4I -- command, control, communication, computer, intelligence -- command system has been in the works for years, the last four years of armed conflict against the Palestinians forced the Army to adapt the system, making it more flexible to meet the needs of urban warfare as well as conventional warfare.

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