Industry reports bright future for transportation security sector
Political pressure mounting after European train attacks; U.S. government to spend $1 billion over the next three years; video surveillance systems, explosives detection equipment, and analytical software among major needs
Last week we described the transportation security sector as the Rodney Dangerfield of homeland security. While federal funding for aviation security since 2001 totals nearly $20 billion, funding to protect roads, bridges, and transist systems have barely cracked $400 million during the same time period. A new report by the Convergent Security Group (CSG) takes a close look at the issue and identifies some positive trends:
—Political pressure on government and industry officials following the London,
Moscow, Mumbai, and Madrid attacks
—Recent proposed legislative initiatives to add from $50 million to more then $3 billion in federal ground transportation security spending over the coming several years
—Growing private sector focus on security “dual benefits” such as supply chain and operational efficiency, loss prevention, accident reduction, and natural disaster preparedness
—Development of scaleable new technologies to address security challenges
—The passage of previously committed funding through the government
bureaucracy to end users and their vendors, including significant pilot programs
These changes have not gone unnoticed by industry leaders. According to CSG, Lockheed Martin “is priming a $212 million electronic security project in New York; Raytheon and its team recently won a contract potentially worth over $1 billion to screen cargo — much of it on trucks — for nuclear materials. Aviation security leader Smiths Detection has identified rail security as a future growth driver.”
The report predicts U.S. ground transportation security spending will exceed $300 million this year and a total of $1 billion over the coming three years — a significant improvement over the previous five. Much of the spending will be on intelligent video surveillance systems, explosives detection equipment, analytical software and systems to improve supply chain efficiency, RFID tracking, access control, and systems integration.
-read more in the CSG report
