• Greece bans Google Street View mapping service

    The Greek government bans Google from gathering detailed, street-level images within the country for a planned expansion of the company’s panoramic Street View mapping service; government wants assurances about privacy issues

  • SAIC to deploy tsunami monitoring system for Thailand

    The Thai government has awarded SAIC a contract to produce and deliver a sea-based system that can warn against the threat of a tsunami; the new system will replace the current NOAA Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting Tsunamis (DART) buoy system in the Bay of Bengal, which was provided to Thailand in 2006

  • Somali pirates benefit from a global network of informers

    These are not your father’s pirates: Somali pirates benefit from information sent to them by informers planted in key shipping hubs around the world; this information includes vessels’ cargo, layout, and route — and is transmitted early enough to allow the pirates enough time to practice their assault based on the information they received

  • Boeing's takes X-45C out of storage, renames it Phantom Ray

    The proposed 2010 U.S. defense budget is historic at least in one respect: for the first time, the U.S. Air Force will be buying more unmanned flying systems than manned ones; Boeing takes its X-45C unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) out of storage and renames it Phantom Ray; it will be completed and readied for flight by the end of 2010, and will be suitable for missions including ISR, SEAD, electronic attack, hunter/killer, and autonomous aerial refueling

  • Highlights of the U.S. 2010 defense budget

    U.S. defense budget increase 4 percent over 2009, to $533.8 billion; weapons procurement, at $107.4 billion, comes third after Operations & Maintenance ($185.7 billion) and personnel costs ($136 billion)

  • iPod helps U.S. fight insurgents in Iraq

    The U.S. military is using iPods and iPhones to help troops carry out operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; devices are used for biometric identification, and will soon be used as guidance systems for bomb disposal robots and to receive aerial footage from unmanned drone aircraft

  • Initial $50 million of stimulus package for airport security awarded

    DHS announced the award of the first $50 million out of a total of $1 billion made available by the stimulus package for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA); money will fund explosive detection systems and advanced technology X-ray units that will streamline baggage screening at U.S. airports

  • How DHS plans to use the stimulus package's funds

    The stimulus package has added billions of dollars to the DHS budget; the department details how it plans to spend the money

  • U.S. military wants jumping robot

    DARPA funds a program to develop a hopping robot; the robot will be able to jump stairs and go over obstacles; it will be used for urban reconnaissance and intelligence gathering — although DARPA admits it could also be fitted with a raft of weapons; one of the requirement for the hopping robot: “’stick’ accurate landings”

  • Raytheon awarded Nextgen Air Transportation System contract

    Contract calls for Raytheon to study the Nextgen integrated communications, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) architecture and determine the NAS’s needs for 2018 to 2025

  • Qinetiq to acquire Cyveillance for $40 million

    Among the major winners of the administration’s 2010 defense budget will be defense contractors involved in cyber security, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; Qinetiq North America positions itself to benefit from the shift in the defense budget’s priorities by acquiring cyberspace intelligence specialist Cyveillance

  • ShotSpotter to acquire QinetiQ North America's SECURES

    ShotSpotter will acquire SECURES Acoustic Gunshot Detection System
    from QinetiQ North America, strengthening its position in the acoustic detection arena; 35 localities in the United States already deploy ShotSpotter systems in high-crime areas

  • BAE in $13 million deal to provide U.S. military with IFF transponders

    In an effort to reduce incidents of friendly fire on the battlefield, the U.S. military orders 500 identification friend or foe (IFF) digital transponders and spares for the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy; BAE has already delivered more than 4,000 common transponders

  • Japan to start developing swine flu vaccine

    CDC sends Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases a sample of the new type of flu strain, and NIID will begin to work on a modified swine flu virus, then distribute the virus to four Japanese vaccine makers and institutions

  • Surge in armored car sales in Brazil

    Brazilians have to live with exceedingly high levels of crime — in the late 1990s, for example, the UN ranked the Jardim Ângela section of São Paulo as the most violent neighborhood in the world — at the same time that government agencies, owing to corruption or incompetence, fail to provide security; São Paulo leads the country — and the world — in making and selling armored cars; tax breaks now allow the middle class to buy protection which once was the reserve of the rich