22 Nov 06. AgustaWestland Expands Its Presence In Malaysia With A119 Koala And Grand Helicopter Contracts. AgustaWestland is pleased to announce the signing of two contracts with two different Malaysian private customers: an AgustaWestland Grand to Weststar Aviation Sdn. Bhd for VIP/Corporate transport missions and an A119 Koala purchased by Innovest Aviation Sdn. Bhd. Both helicopters will be configured for Corporate/VIP transport. The Grand to Weststar Aviation Sdn. Bhd will be delivered in 2007 and it will be configured with six passenger VIP interior to shuttle people between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in just over 1 hour of flight. Weststar Aviation Sdn. Bhd is the latest addition to the growing number of aviation operators worldwide benefiting from the performance of the Grand.
20 Nov 06. Raytheon Company delivered the first four engineering development models of the Advanced Spectroscopic Portal (ASP) to the Department of Homeland Security Nov. 14, four months after the initial contract award. “This is a tremendous effort by our Raytheon-led ASP team in a very rapid response to an urgent and critical homeland security need,” said Mary Petryszyn, Raytheon vice president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems’ Joint Battlespace Integration business team. Advanced spectroscopic portals are panel-like devices that contain detectors used to screen people, cars, trucks and containers for illicit radioactive materials at some of the more than 600 ports of entry into the United States. This new generation of portals is needed to improve discrimination between innocent and threat materials, which will reduce the number of false alarms compared to the first generation of screening portals currently in place.
21 Nov 06. A major financial institution in the north eastern United States is to be protected from vehicle borne threats posed by criminals and terrorists. As part of its project to upgrade security at the facility, SecureUSA Inc is using a highly specialised threat assessment process to design a tailored solution to counter this very specific threat. This service is being provided by Perseus (GST) Ltd, the Guildford based security consultancy, and includes laser scanning, vehicle dynamics and CCTV matrix optimisation. This will be the first application of PIRAMS™ (Perseus Intelligent Risk Analysis Management System) in the United States. This unique methodology conducts an assessment of the threats facing a vulnerable site and then develops realistic and scientifically founded solutions to mitigate the risk. The facility occupies a block of some 75,000 square metres and there is a need for all round perimeter protection. Perseus will be laser scanning to collect site specific geo spatial data and will then use PIRAMS™ to analyse the threat to facilitate the design of the most effective solution to countering any vehicle borne threat. In addition the 3D data cloud generated by the laser scanner will enable Perseus to accurately position CCTV cameras so there is maximum coverage and minimum dead ground with the optimum number of cameras.