Customs and Border Protection reached an agreement on March 22 with the Tohono O’odham Nation in the Casa Grande, Ariz., area of responsibility to install the final set of Integrated Fixed Tower surveillance systems for the baseline deployment of program. The IFT system that will be deployed on the Nation’s land will consist of a relocatable version of the towers. The agency doesn’t have a timeline for when the system will be deployed. Elbit Systems of America is the IFT contractor and so far has deployed the system in four major areas of responsibility on the southwest border. The company’s current contract still has two options for additional deployments.
FLIR Systems
in late March exhibited its Black Hornet Nano unmanned aircraft systems at the annual Border Security Expo in San Antonio. The company is marketing the hand-launched UAS to the Border Patrol for a short-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability.
The Department of Homeland Security has introduced the Access Lifecycle Management (ALM) system to more efficiently and securely on-board and off-board industry personnel. The system is being rolled out in phases, with the first phase consisting of automated notifications to contractor offices when specific contractor personnel are cleared to work at the department. The notification is “designed to increase transparency, and reduce the amount of manual work for all parties,” Chief Procurement Officer Soraya Correa and Chief Security Officer Richard McComb say in a Feb. 26 letter to industry that was publicly released on March 26. The first phase begins with contracts administered by the DHS Headquarters Directorate and will be completed in May. Subsequent rollouts will include DHS components.
Auburn Univ. has received $564,988 from the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology branch for two research and development projects designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of explosives-detecting canines. Under the Whole Spectrum Explosive Odor Training project, valued at $280,566, Auburn researchers will develop a scientifically validated canine training program enabling canine teams to overcome adversaries’ attempts to modify, filter or reduce explosive odor signatures in improvised explosive devices. The Examination and Enhancement of Canine Evaluations project received $284,422 to examine the practical difference in performance measurement data integrity between single and double-blind canine team evaluation methods, and will use the resulting data to develop tactics, techniques, and procedures to improve detection canine team performance.
Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz expects the first of at least three new heavy polar icebreakers that the service plans to soon put under contract will cost about $925 million with the follow-on Polar Security Cutters likely costing significantly less, potentially in the $700 million range. An award for the detailed design and construction of the first PSC is expected in late April or May, and the ship is expected to be delivered in 2023, which Schultz said is “optimistic,” adding early 2024 is a possibility.