• UAVs-mounted aircraft defense system demonstrated

    Until now there have been two leading approaches to protecting civilian aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles: One approach proposed placing the defensive systems on the planes to be protected, the other advocated surrounding airports with a protective umbrella; a third approach has now been demonstrated: Mounting defensive systems on UAVs loitering high in the sky

  • TSA to deploy remote detection machines at airports

    Terrorists may not only blow up a plane, but also explode a bomb in an airport lounge or near a crowded ticket counter; TSA tests machines that can detect explosives at a distance

  • Detroit airport to offer germ-free security checkpoints

    Worried about microbes, bacteria, and fungi released at airport security checkpoints as travelers take off their shoes and place their belongings in a tray? At Detroit Metro Airport’s new North Terminal you will not have to worry, with the application of new anti-microbial treatment

  • Northrop tests Guardian anti-missile system

    On 8-9 September, Northrop Grumman successfully tested the Guardian anti-missile system; from heights exceeding 50,000 feet, the system successfully detected, tracked, and directed a laser to intercept a target missile

  • Seucring airports by reading people's minds (or bodies)

    DHS is testing a machine which, from a distance, senses changes in individuals’ perspiration, respiration, and heart rate typically associated with anxiety one feels before committing a terrorist act

  • DHS: Progress and priorities, I

    Since its creation more than five years ago, DHS has made significant progress — uneven progress — in protecting the United States from dangerous people and goods, protecting the U.S. critical infrastructure, strengthen emergency response, and unifying department operations

  • Lufthansa selects Smiths Detection for cargo security

    Lufthansa will deploy Smiths Detection’s 500DT trace explosives detectors in all of its eighteen U.S. airport locations; the 500DT was recently placed on the TSA Qualified Products List

  • L-3's millimeter wave scanning technology tested at ten U.S. airports

    Two technologies — backscatter X-rays and millimeter wave — compete in the airport security scanning market; TSA is currently testing millimeter wave at ten airports, and the fact that the technology is faster than its rival may make it the scanning technology of choice

  • Detecting disease in less than 60 seconds

    Traditional testing for disease outbreak or bioterror attack can take days — even weeks — to confirm a diagnosis and isolate those infected; we may not have that much time, and University of Georgia researchers develop a quicker virus identification method

  • Facial recognition trials at Manchester Airport

    Five gates at Manchester Airport will be equipped with face recognition devices; gates can only be used with people from the United Kingdom and EU who are over 18 and hold a new-style chipped passport

  • American Airlines, TSA end weeklong feud

    TSA inspector at O’Hare used an air temperature probe attached to the exterior of seven unattended American Eagles to hoist himself onto nearby jet bridges and access the planes; sensitive devices had to be recalibrated, resulting in delays

  • NYC airports to get $400 million for explosive detectors

    Responding to post 9/11 federal mandates, three New York City-area airports invested about $400 million in security upgrades; the federal government has agreed to reimburse the airports for the expenses

  • All is not clear with the Clear "fast pass" program

    TSA suspended Verified Identity Pass (VIP) from the Registered Traveler program because one of VIP’s computer, containing the personal details of 33,000 customers who had registered for the program; the lap top was found, and TSA reinstated VIP; Priva technologies, locked in a legal battle with VIP over trademarks, is unhappy

  • NASA awards general aviation technology prizes

    NASA wants to encourage innovations that would lead to aircraft that are safer, more affordable, easier to fly and also have less of a negative impact on the environment and on the communities that surround airports

  • Verified Identity Pass gets back to RT business

    TSA suspended company from the Registered Traveler program after one of its computer, containing the personal details of 33,000 customers who had registered for the program, was lost; lap top was recovered and handed over to TSA for forensic review; company now allowed to register passengers