Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has awarded a contract to Griffon Corp.’s [GFF] Telephonics unit to provide the Border Patrol with mobile surveillance system for detecting, tracking and classifying small and slow-moving targets of interest on the United States border with Mexico.
Telephonics says that the base value of its Mobile Surveillance Capability (MSC) contract is $13.5 million and contains options. The order includes deliveries and integrated logistics support. A CBP spokesman tells HSR that 15 units will be delivered under the base award.
The production contract follows a nine month Operational Utility Evaluation of two Telephonics MSC vehicles on the southwest border.
CBP says that the system provides mobile area surveillance in remote rural areas over a range of 8 to 12 kilometers. The agency says that benefits of the MSC include identification and tracking of “numerous” items of interest over a large area, enhancing the safety of Border Patrol agents by providing advanced warning of items of interest and whether individuals are armed, and allowing for better response coordination.
Telephonics calls its MSC system the Radar and Video Enforcement Network (RaVEN)-Mobile, which integrates ground surveillance radar and long-range day and night camera systems for border security and critical infrastructure applications. The company says that its RaVEN systems are capable of automatic and continuous target detection and tracking. The system can operate as a stand-alone system or as a networked, virtual fence, the company said.
The operator work station is located inside the truck cabin.
“MSC enhances the effectiveness of our nation’s very capable Border Patrol agents by providing them with a suite of advanced sensors integrated with a sophisticated decision-making tool set, to successfully detect, classify, track and ultimately apprehend lawbreakers at our borders.”
The system can quickly set up and deployed in a variety of rugged terrain, Telephonics says. The integrated MSC suite attaches to the flat skid cargo bet of a government-furnished vehicle.
FLIR Systems [FLIR] is also under contract with CBP for MSCs. At this time a year ago CBP had deployed 30 MSC units along the southwest border. Last July CBP awarded FLIR another production order totaling $19.5 million for additional MSC systems marking the second option for procurement of units under a five-year contract with the agency.
Telephonics originally won a CBP contract in 2010 to supply the agency with MSCs.
MSCs are deployed along U.S. land, waterways and coastal borders to detect and identify illegal border crossings, the CBP spokesman says. The systems also augment and fill gaps in coverage provided by fixed surveillance towers, he says.
The MSC contract with Telephonics follows a $50 million award by CBP late last October to Tactical Micro for the Mobile Video Surveillance System or MVSS. The MVSS system consists of day and night camera systems fitted on telescopic poles mounted on Border Patrol 4 x 4 vehicles. Tactical Micro is part of Secure Technology Company.