• Nuctech to install liquid bomb detectors ahead of China Olympics

    Not coincidentally, contract goes to company headed by the son of China’s president; terms are undisclosed, but 147 airports will receive scanners normally priced at $200,000 per unit; company already controls 90 percent of the domestic scanner market

  • UK scientists develop mine-spotting camera

    By dividing an image into thirty-two separate snapshots the system can pick out features unobservable to humans; expanded color palette the key; Qinetiq and Selex try to move technology to the market; system has medical uses as well

  • Global Hawk flight suspended after communications failure

    Northrop Grumman’s flagship UAV is grounded at Beale Air Force Base after craft failed to respond to landing directions; problem is ill-timed with company’s effort to win the Navy’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) UAV contract; Global Hawk has a history of problems

  • TSA approves GE's foot-scanner for Registered Traveler program

    Planners say requiring shoe removal would waste the time the program is intended to save; Unisys takes a close look for its Reno operations, but Z-Backscatter technology may also do the trick; size of kiosks a critical issue

  • US-VISIT to drop exit monitoring program

    After a GAO report criticizes the border security program for technological and management failings, DHS decides to give up on tracking visitors’ egress; high costs of fingerprinting and facial scanning machines a major issue

  • DHS unveils rail security plan

    Experts point to trains carrying hazardous materials thorugh or near densley populated areas as a lucrative target for terorist attacks; DHS offers a plan to have trains and railyeards monitored more closely, but Democrats say it is too little, too late

  • RTI and TAG join forces for a recoilless UAV gun

    Recoilless Technologies International and Tactical Aerospace Group attempt to overcome the structural problems of cutting the size of UAVs; blowback from traditional weapons could damage craft; system will compete with Metal Storm’s stacked projectile approach

  • Otto Hoernig launches new sensor networking firm

    Hoernig previously sold SpaceLink International for $150 million; Trace Systems, based in Virginai, will pursue business with DHS and DoD; market for wireless sensors to reach $1 billion by 2009

  • Texas virtual border patrol goes on-line

    After a one-month stress test, state proclaims effort a success; more than 200,000 register to watch for illegal immigrants on their desktops; one major arrest reported; technological and contracting issues hamper full $5 million roll-out

  • Foster-Miller receives $1 million in DoD funding for Boat Trap

    Development with Coast Guard seems to have paid off; hand-held system, launched from a helicopter, uses a ballistic net to tangle a boat’s engine; 100 percent success rate claimed; Moscow Mills Manufacturing lends a hand

  • Magal sells first PipeGuard system

    Two years ago Magal launched its PipeGuard system, a specialty system designed to protect underground oil pies from saboteurs; it has taken two years and the company has its first client for the system — but it is not an oil company; the first client is a bank interested in protecting itself from bank robbers who might try to tunnel their way into the bank

  • BAE Systems to build U.K. UAV demonstrator

    £124 million project the third in succession for the Ministry of Defense; UAV said to be similar to company’s Hawk system; first flight expected in 2010; Rolls Royce, QinetiQ, and Smiths Aerospace also involved; BAE is looking for British vendors

  • DHS names six ports to kick-start the Secure Freight Initiative

    Port Qasim, Puerto Cortes, and Port Salalah among the first to install radiation detection equipment; DHS allocates $60 million to buy the equipment; Dubai Ports once again in the news, but nobody has yet to complain; only 7 percent of outgoing cargo to be inspected

  • Bush orders new look at ground transportation security requirements

    Chertoff ordered to provide a sector by sector analysis; close consultation with state and municipal authorities should provide some clarity; report will emphasize technology needs and set research priorities; announcment preempts an incoming congress steamed about ground transportation failings

  • Aurora Flight Sciences to test new Goldeneye 80 UAV

    Federal government hopes for success in effort to encourage UAVs to run on standard diesel fuel; procurement efficiency at issue; Goldeneye 80 goes up against Honeywell UAV for DARPA funding, and both move forward into Phase 3 testing; winning UAV will support small units on tactical missions