• U.S. Army's new surveillance blimp will fly "mid-next summer"

    Northrop Grumman successfully completed another test of the Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) — a blimp longer than a football field and taller than a seven-story building, which will remain airborne for more than three weeks at a time, carrying multiple surveillance payloads

  • Aviation security market to reach $289 billion by 2015

    Analysts estimate that the aviation security market will reach $289 billion by the year 2015; air carriers around the world are set to take delivery of 29,400 planes with a total value of $3.2 trillion by 2028 — and governments and carriers alike are eager to create a robust security foundation for this growing fleet

  • German air shipping industry warns against overreaction on air freight security

    German security expert says that, as with the illegal drugs trade, the only practical solution is to infiltrate the criminal organizations themselves; “If [technological solutions] worked, we would not have illegal drugs going to the U.S.—- But we have hundreds of tons being illegally imported to the U.S. every year”

  • Closing gaping cargo security holes prohibitively expensive

    The technology exists to safeguard the world’s air-transport system against threats such as the Yemen-based mail bombs, but the cost may be too high to be practical; swabbing packages individually for explosives is considered the most effective way to scan, but this is not a practical option for the millions of packages that crisscross the globe every day; the cost of these machines would likely be in the billions of dollars, and would be economically impossible for some countries

  • Only 20 percent of U.S.-bound cargo screened for bombs

    About 20 percent of the nine billion pounds of air cargo that comes from overseas each year is physically checked for bombs; at some overseas airports, cargo is checked for bombs before being put on planes, but that screening could be below U.S. security standards, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO); the TSA may start forcing airlines to inspect suspicious cargo before a plane takes off from overseas. the agency is studying whether the tracking system can target certain U.S.-bound air cargo for screening prior to departure

  • ISC Solutions 2010, III: Innovative tools for attendees

    The event organizers have introduced tools that will help attendees navigate the seminars they would like to attend, and better handle the contacts they would like to network with, through customizable online agendas, smart phone applications, and ISC Solutions’ matchmaking tool

  • Not your father's police dept.: Tarrytown police adopts latest technology

    Tarrytown police cruisers are now rolling with the latest technology and software; two of the software systems at the fingertips of the police are the Mobile Plate Hunter 900 and the TraCS (Traffic and Criminal Software) system; used in conjunction with dual, rear-mounted license plate readers, an officer can catch an offending driver, check a driver’s background, and print up a ticket and a court summons in a matter of minutes

  • BAE Systems prime IT vendor for the FBI's largest-ever IDIQ

    BAE Systems was selected as the prime IT vendor for the FBI’s largest ever IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity) contract, potentially valued as high as $30 billion; the 8-year effort covers a variety of services, including hardware/software and related services, operations and maintenance, technical and development

  • Experts: cargo bombs raise questions about adequacy of technology

    The PETN bombs found onboard cargo aircraft at East Midlands airport and Dubai airport were hidden inside computer printers; the deadly devices were not picked up by X-ray screening or sniffer dogs; intelligence will continue to play a major role in maintaining air security as even advanced screening technologies are not perfect and checking every piece of cargo would be impractical

  • Ford shows stealth version of its custom Interceptor police car

    Ford is showing the stealth version of its new police Interceptor sedan; the black concept car with tinted windows and disguised lights — until they start blazing in a driver’s rearview mirror — has been lowered an inch and appears wider to give it a more sinister look

  • Accessing, sharing critical crime information across the county

    Yuma County, Arizona, deploys multi-agency, interoperable data-sharing solutions which allow first response, law enforcement, and public safety agencies in the county to access and share critical crime and safety information county wide

  • HTS has 50 percent of the cargo container monitoring system market

    In addition to monitoring cars on the road and in parking lots by reading these cars’ license plates, HTS’s systems are also in use at ports to track containers entering and exiting the facility by land and by sea; mounted on cranes and port gates, the system enables the identification of hundreds of thousands of cargo containers, and crosschecks them with their manifests to make sure they are being offloaded at the correct location and contain the right cargo

  • U.S. shifts bio-defense R&D approach to "platform technologies"

    The Obama administration’s new $5.9 billion bio-defense plan features a strategy to fund so-called “platform technologies” that apply to many different infectious disease threats, whether they be bioterrorism (anthrax), pandemics (influenza), or infectious diseases affecting the developing world (malaria); this money could provide an extra incentive to justify corporate R&D investments in vaccine, drug, and diagnostic technologies

  • U.K. defense cuts may benefit engineering industries

    The U.K. defense industry is bracing itself for tens of thousands of private-sector job losses following the government’s budget cuts; for all the negativity of defense cuts, an influx of engineers into the employment market, combined with investment in infrastructure, raises the question of whether other industries might stand to benefit

  • ISC Solutions 2010, I: Solutions for real-world security challenges

    ISC Solutions will open in New York on 3 November; formerly known as ISC East, the organizers say the change of name indicates a focus on showcasing best practice solutions which solve security challenges; ISC East was geared toward installing security contractors in the Northeast, and ISC Solutions, building on that history, now aims to offer a stage for manufacturers to present solutions and applications to end-user customers