U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened a new facility to help enhance information sharing across the nearly 60,000-person organization. The new Intelligence and Operations Coordination Center will serve as the “one-stop-shop” for operations coordination and information sharing across the operational entities within the agency, including Field Operations, Border Patrol and Air and Marine. A formal [...]
Archive | March, 2010
Problems with LCS ships ?
The U.S. Navy sees the launch and recovery of smaller boats as a “major risk” to both competing designs for its new Littoral Combat Ship program, a congressional watchdog agency said on Tuesday. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the research arm of Congress, said the Navy’s risk assessment was troubling, given that watercraft launch and [...]
Cybersecurity: Challenges and Opportunites
It is a battle that is being fought every second of every day. A battle in which the attackers are unseen and often undetected and the victims unaware and often unwilling to publicly acknowledge their defenses have been breached. This is the ongoing conflict between cyberwarfare and its alter ego cybersecurity, and global aerospace and [...]
Finmeccanica: 130M$ contracts for security
Finmeccanica has won contracts with a total value of approximately 13 M$ million through its companies DRS, SELEX Sistemi Integrati and Elsag Datamat. Specifically, DRS Technical Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Finmeccanica Group company DRS Technologies, was awarded a $77 million contract to provide technical assistance to the United States Army and allies as [...]
DRS Technical Services: 77 M$ for C2 Technical Assistance to United States Forces-Iraq
DRS Technical Services, Inc., Finmeccanica Group, announced that its Tactical Services & Network Solutions business unit was awarded a contract for approximately $77 million to provide technical assistance to the United States Army and allies as they withdraw from the country of Iraq. Under terms of the award, DRS will continue to support the transition [...]
Alenia Aeronautica delivers second ATR-42MP airplane to the NAF
The delivery ceremony was held at Alenia Aeronautica’s Training Centre at Turin-Caselle and was attended by Air Vice Marshal DS Dillimono (Chief Operation Officer) and Wing Commander AT Marquis (Programme Manager ATR-42MP NAF) who signed the acceptance of the aircraft in the presence of Alenia Aeronautica’s Managers. Having completed the final acceptance phases with the [...]
Loser To Fight In LCS Deal?
Analysts say high-stakes competition pitting Austal against Lockheed Martin could end with protest similar to tanker contest By the Navy’s calendar, a winner-take-all order for up to 10 new littoral combat ships is supposed to be awarded this summer, with Mobile-based Austal USA’s future prospects heavily staked to the outcome. But that award may not [...]
Airport security should be “unpredictable”
MPs say that business travellers should not know what to expect when they pass through airports in order to beat terrorism The current confusion over what business travellers should expect when they go through security in Britain’s airports looks set to increase if recommendations from the Home Affairs select committee are adopted. A report from [...]
Border Patrol Agents Rescue 10 from El Paso Storm Drains
A potentially deadly situation was averted on March 24 after U.S. Border Patrol agents, helped rescue ten illegal migrants who were put in a perilous situation by a smuggler in an attempt to elude authorities. In the early hour’s yesterday afternoon on March 25, Border Patrol agents from the El Paso Station responded to the [...]
Telephonics: Advanced ATM Automation System
Telephonics Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Griffon Corporation, and a leader in providing advanced air traffic management solutions, announced today the launch of its newest and most advanced Air Traffic Management (ATM) automation system, Aerotrac®NextGen. This system is the latest update to its highly successful AeroTrac® ATC system line which improves the operational efficiency [...]
Private Guards Kill Somali Pirate
In what was said to be the first incident of its kind, private security guards aboard a merchant ship plying the pirate-infested waters off Somalia shot dead one of several attackers trying to seize the vessel, the European Naval Force in the area said on Wednesday. The death comes amid fears that increasingly aggressive pirates [...]
Updating air traffic system top aim of Senate bill
Replacing World War II-era radar with 21st century GPS technology and implementing several new airline safety rules would be required under a $34.5 billion bill approved on March,22 by the Senate. The measure funding the Federal Aviation Administration through Sept. 30, 2011, calls for key elements of the FAA’s NextGen program to be in place [...]
Information Sharing: The new intelligence capability
Steve Coles, Head of Security Strategy at SELEX SI/VEGA, revisits the importance of information sharing for the UK in light of the failed Christmas Day airline bomb plot. According to President Obama, it was an information sharing and analysis breakdown that nearly allowed a terrorist to kill 290 people on 25 December 2009, in what [...]
Navy Warns Ships About Al Qaeda Risk Near Yemen
Merchant, military vessels put on alert The Navy is warning ships sailing in waters near Yemen that al Qaeda is planning seaborne attacks similar to the 2000 suicide boat bombing of the USS Cole. A warning notice posted on the Web site of the Office of Naval Intelligence and dated March 10 stated that the [...]
Afghan Opium will create a new “Silk Road”?
KABUL, Afghanistan — The effort to win over Afghans on former Taliban turf in Marja has put American and NATO commanders in the unusual position of arguing against opium eradication, pitting them against some Afghan officials who are pushing to destroy the harvest. From Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal on down, the military’s position is clear: [...]
‘dominator(tm)’- the System That Enables Soldiers to Dominate the Battlefeild
Elbit Systems will be presenting the “Dominator ™” – an Integrated Infantry Combat System at the upcoming Australian Air Show. Geared for the unit level and individual soldier, the “Dominator ™” enables forces to dominate the field by empowering infantry units with full situational awareness through networking into integrated information systems. Outfitted with the “Dominator [...]
New Command, Control and Comms System
Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, today announced that a contract has been signed with Elbit Systems Limited (Elbit) to provide the next generation of command, control and communications capability to elements of the Army, Special Operations Command and the Air Force’s Combat Support Group. “The introduction of this new capability which [...]
Aircrafts and Helicopters: Finmeccanica Seeks To Make U.S. Home Market
Finmeccanica is looking to further increase its business activity in the U.S., capitalizing on its acquisition of DRS Technologies.The company has long eyed the U.S. and, through a growing industrial footprint, has tried to make it a “home market” in addition to Italy and the U.K. A round of upcoming helicopter competitions will prove a [...]
What is the Purpose of the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations List?
The United States maintains a range of “terrorist lists,” of which the Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) list is one of the better known. But in two recent court cases, the U.S. government has offered arguments that raise questions about the purpose of the list. FTO List vs. State Sponsors List Another list is that of [...]
US NAVY LCS: life-cycle cost is a major problem
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said yesterday the service is keeping a mid-April deadline for industry bids on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), amid concerns about the losing shipbuilder protesting the contract award and a call from one side to delay the schedule. Some observers predict the loser of the two-way contest between Lockheed Martin and [...]
CACI: 219 M$ in C4ISR and IT Services
Award by Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic Continues Company’s Role as Provider of Critically Important Services CACI International Inc announced today that it has been awarded a $219 million prime contract to provide command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (C4ISR) and business IT software and maintenance services to the Space and Naval Warfare [...]
SBINET in troubles: funds frozen
The Department of Homeland Security is pulling in the reins on a high-priced border “virtual fence” system plagued by cost overruns and missed deadlines since its launch four years ago. Additional funding for the SBInet project will be frozen beyond two systems already going up along the U.S.-Mexico border near Sasabe and Ajo, the agency [...]
Italian navy to deploy AW101s to Afghanistan
Italy will deploy three of its AgustaWestland AW101 amphibious support helicopters to Afghanistan in October for a 12-month tour of duty. The “Task Group Shark” detachment will involve aircraft from the navy’s 1st Helicopter Squadron at Luni, plus 55 personnel and an aeromedical evacuation team, assigned to the International Security Assistance Force’s Regional Command West [...]
CBP Seizes Counterfeit DVDs at California Border
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials today announced the seizure of a single truckload containing more than 6,300 counterfeit DVDs last month at the Otay Mesa cargo export facility. click for hi-res At about 9 a.m. on February 11, a CBP officer processing trucks exporting cargo out of the United States into Mexico pulled aside [...]
DRS Awarded $15 M to Provide Satellite Connectivity and Services
DRS Defense Solutions, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DRS Technologies, Inc.,Finmeccanica Group, announced its Global Enterprise Solutions business unit was awarded a $15 million task order to provide X-band satellite connectivity and terrestrial transport services to the U.S. Military serving in the Middle East. Award is by the Defense information Systems Agency (DISA) under Defense [...]
U.S. Homeland Security Chief Meets Europe Counterparts
European officials agreed at last Jan Madrid Meeting to accelerate the drafting of a common strategy with the United States to improve airline security during a meeting with Janet Napolitano, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. It was the first such high-level trans-Atlantic meeting on the subject since the botched Dec. 25 bombing of an [...]
USCG: Two Marine Pilots Rescued in the Ocean
A Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot and his weapons officer tried to make it back home after both engines on their warplane failed and a fire broke out, but they were forced to eject and ditch the aircraft in the ocean “The fire was making its way toward the cockpit, so they determined they could not [...]
No MEADS Decision From U.S. Army-MDA Meeting
Senior U.S. Army officials who met with representatives from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) March 10 reached no decision on whether to transfer management of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program to the agency, according to a defense official. Instead, senior officials from both organizations agreed that follow-up questions needed to be answered [...]
100315 AOfS Newsletter
click here to read 100315 NEWSLETTER Atlantic Organization for Security The 100315 NEWSLETTER includes the intervention of the RADM Pollastrini, Commander of the Italian Coast Guard, on proactive role in the Mediterranean sea performed by the Italian Coast Guard in making concrete the implementation of the Integrated Maritime Policy of the European Union as well as of [...]
VIENNA INTERNATIONAL PARLIAMENTARY AGENDA: PORT SECURITY
U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) today pushed the issues of port security and international piracy on to the agenda of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA). Participating in her first meeting as a delegate to the international body, Richardson raised the issues based on her experience as a member [...]