BAE’s JETEYE Begins Final Phase of C-MANPADS

BAE Systems says its aircraft-based JETYE directed infrared counter measures system has completed its first flight on a scheduled American Airlines aircraft flying across the U.S. between New York City and Los Angeles. The flight begins the final phase of BAE’s participation in the Department of Homeland Security’s Counter-Man Portable Air Defense System (C-MANPADS) program. JETEYE was successfully evaluated on an American Airlines test aircraft and an ABX Air, Inc., cargo aircraft previously in the C-MANPADS program. The anti-missile system will be installed on two more American Airlines 767-200 aircraft for daily cross-country flights between now and March 2009. The evaluation will demonstrate the system’s maintainability and reliability, as well as overall suitability with the airline industry.

Datastrip, Codebench Help U.S. Port Beat TWIC Schedule

Datastrip Inc. and Codebench Inc. have helped a major Southeastern port deploy the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) ahead of the April 2009 deadline by implementing PIVCheck Plus, which consists of Datastrip’s DSV2+Turbo handheld biometric smart card reader integrated with Codebench’s personal identity verification (PIV) software. The companies did not disclose the name of the port although the Port of Savannah, Ga., last year selected the Datastrip card reader to validate existing physical access control system (PACS) badges of its workers (TR2, Dec. 12, 2007). Datastrip says that using PIVCheck Plus to tie a TWIC credential to a PACS badge, port employees and transportation workers can continue using their PACS badges for port access, while their TWIC certificates are checked for revocation. This feature leverages the port’s legacy PACS infrastructure and supports it with certificate management. “PIVCheck Plus will change the paradigm that TWIC compliance has to be complicated and costly,” says Geri Castaldo, CEO of Codebench. “It gives facility operators the flexibility to migrate to TWIC-enabled readers over time, or to not migrate at all.”

EADS North America Seeks Partners for Multi-Threat Detector

European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) has developed, tested and validated a prototype system that can detect multiple types of threats and contraband in containers and baggage. The company’s North American division now intends to partner with other companies to make the technology available in the U.S. market. The process in the system, developed by EADS SODERN, Astrium and the French Atomic Energy Commission, enables the detection and identification of a wide variety of threat materials that are chemical, nuclear, radiological, explosive and drug-based. The prototype system uses neutrons to detect and identify materials. EADS says the system also paves the way for new screening concepts that leverage the fast throughput of current X-Ray systems with the unique discrimination capability of the neutron-based technique.

GD Demonstrates CMAPS Against UAVs

General Dynamics [GD] has successfully demonstrated a ground-based defense system against unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that was originally developed to defeat Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) that could threaten military and civilian aircraft. The demonstration of the Counter-Man Portable Airspace Protection System (CMAPS) against multiple small UAVs proves that the “system has multi-mission capabilities,” says Phil Hynes, vice president of strategic planning for GD’s Armament and Technical Products division. “Tests have shown that General Dynamics’ ground-based countermeasure system can successfully protect airspace and other assets, including infrastructure and ships, against a broad spectrum of threats.” GD has been developing CMAPS with funding provided by the Pentagon’s Technical Support Working Group. The system is being designed to protect military facilities and air bases but GD also has in mind homeland security concerns for the protection of commercial aircraft. The company says the system can operate safely in remote and densely populated areas. CMAPS uses laser energy to defeat the guidance systems on missiles and UAVs.

Valley Forge Introduces New Nuclear Explosion Detection Product

Valley Force Composite Technologies, Inc., says its subsidiary, Valley Force Detection Systems, has introduced the LOKI, which can detect and verify nuclear explosions, pinpoint their location and monitor for radioactive fallout.

Splinternet Rad Detection Network in Training Event

Splinternet Holdings [SLNH] says that its Defentect gamma radiation detection network is participating this week at the Golden Phoenix real world disaster response laboratory training exercise that is led by the Customs and Border Protection, the County, and City of San Diego, and the Marine Corps. Operation Golden Phoenix is focusing on simulated bio-weapon and dirty bomb attacks in the Southern California region. Defentect is an unattended gamma radiation detection network that integrates data from a wide-area grid of sensor to an incident command center. When high-energy gamma rays from dirty bomb components interact with Gammatect Plus sensors, Defentect analyzes the data and alerts authorities to radiation that may pose a security threat. Epsilon Systems Solutions is the systems integrator for the exercise and other participating firms include Polimatrix, TW Mobile Engineering, Moog’s [MOG] QuickSet International, Global Mesh Technologies, SightLogix, URS and Orsus.

IDO Security in Distribution Agreements in U.S., China

IDO Security, Inc. [IDOI], developer of the MagShoe “shoes-on” weapons metal detection system being used at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, has signed distribution agreements with firms to help it gain access to the U.S. and Chinese markets. IDO Security, which is based in New York, is partnering with the security and consulting firm Bryant Integrated Technologies, based in Florida, to lead distribution efforts in the U.S. The company has also partnered with Hwan Technology and Trade Co., one of China’s largest distributors of walk-through metal detectors, to lead distribution efforts in mainland China.