06 May 10. DRS Technical Services Inc.’s Maritime & Security Solutions business unit was awarded a fixed price, indefinite- delivery indefinite-quantity contract worth up to $100m to enhance and expand the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency’s license plate reader (LPR) program. DRS will work closely with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to deploy the next generation of LPR mobile and handheld technology at land border ports of entry and border check points. DRS will use Elsag North America cameras, processors and special license plate reading software in support of the CBP mission.
Dr. Mitchell Rambler, president of DRS Technical Services, Inc.: “DRS Technical Services is pleased to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, in its mission to secure U.S. borders. Our team will bring world-class products and services to this critical homeland security initiative.”
10 May 10. Saab has received a letter from OKG Aktiebolag, where they terminate a contract. The contract was originally signed in March 2008, with an order sum of MSEK 392, covering the supply of physical security for Oskarshamn nuclear power station as a general contractor. Saab is currently in discussions with OKG in order to find a solution. The financial impact of the terminated contract can not yet be estimated.
13 May 10. The Lockheed Martin-led Next Generation Identification (NGI) team is beginning to fully develop and deploy a new NGI system capability that transforms how law enforcement officials search an FBI wanted persons database. Development efforts began after a successful Critical Design Review (CDR) for the system’s second phase, also known as Increment 2: Repository for Individuals of Special Concern (RISC). The RISC fingerprint database, which is managed by the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division, includes Wanted Persons, Known or Appropriately Suspected Terrorists, Sex Offenders Registry subjects, and other persons of special interest. “This capability gives law enforcement users more speed and flexibility in how they search the RISC fingerprint database,” explained Lockheed Martin NGI Program Director Mike Moore. “For the first time, the law enforcement community can use web-based transactions, in addition to the existing data input mechanisms, to determine whether a suspect is a wanted person within RISC.” In addition to the full RISC development activity, the team is now beginning design work for the next phase of NGI, which will enhance today’s latent fingerprint matching accuracy and introduces palm prints to the system. NGI is being designed with a significant degree of flexibility to accommodate these and other biometric modalities that may mature and become important to law enforcement efforts in the future.
13 May 10. FLIR Systems, Inc. released today electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) footage from recent environmental disasters including the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull, and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Footage and additional images can be viewed at http://www.gs.flir.com/disaster/.
Recording the footage was the Star SAFIRE® HD from the company’s Pilatus PC-12. The Star SAFIRE HD is the world’s first and only all-digital, all-high definition (HD) EO/IR surveillance system. The system serves as the eyes for aircraft in reconnaissance, search-and-rescue, law enforcement and environmental protection missions for governments, militaries and defense communities across the globe. It was designed to record high-quality footage day or night, in some of the harshest environments around the world.
“This footage demonstrates FLIR’s ability to aid in a variety of missions, allowing first-responders to have eyes looking into the middle of the disaster,” said William A. Sundermeier, president of FLIR Government Systems. “The same technologies that are currently protecting our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are equally effective in these global