 World 'won't wait indefinitely' on Iran nuclear plans: Clinton US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Iran Sunday that the international community "will not wait indefinitely" for the Islamic republic to meet its obligations on its disputed nuclear programme. "The international community will not wait indefinitely for evidence that Iran is prepared to live up to its international obligations," Clinton said after talks in London with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. Clinton said the six-party talks on Iran's nuclear programme in Geneva on October 1 were a "constructive beginning" but she said they "must be followed by action". "Words are not enough," she added. Western powers suspect Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at making atomic weapons, a charge strongly denied by Tehran. Global powers were outraged after Iran, just days ahead of the Geneva talks, revealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it was building a second uranium enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom. The next stage in the talks comes on October 19, when officials from Iran, the United States, Russia, France and the IAEA are to meet in Vienna to work out the deals under which Tehran has said it is ready to buy 20 percent pure uranium from abroad. (AFP Report) |
Tehran (UPI) Oct 8, 2009
The Pentagon has acknowledged that it is speeding up plans to deploy a massive bomb capable of knocking out deeply buried enemy facilities.
The giant "bunker buster" is believed to add fighting power to the U.S. arsenal against Iran's nuclear program, defense experts argue.
U.S. officials, however, have refused to confirm the connection.
The 30,000-pound massive ordnance penetrator is capable of penetrating up to 60 meters of earth, or a thick layer of concrete, before exploding. It weighs more than 13 metric tons, allowing just one such bunker buster to be carried by U.S. bomber aircraft.
"It is under development right now and should be deployable in the coming months," press secretary Geoff Morrell was quoted saying in a report by Defense News.
U.S. Pentagon officials said they had asked Congress in August to redirect $52 million in funding to the project in order to speed up production of the massive bomb.
After winning congressional approval, the Pentagon said this week that it had awarded Boeing's McDonnell Douglas a $51.9 million contract to "enable B-2 aircraft" to carry the bomb.
"The threats have been developing over the years," a Pentagon spokesman was quoted saying to U.S. media. "There are, without getting into any intelligence, there are countries that have used technologies to go further underground and to take those facilities and make them hardened. This is not a new phenomenon, but it is a growing one."
He said the first of the bombs would be ready by the middle of 2010.
While the United States possess similar bombs in its arsenal, the "bunker buster" is said to take that capability of penetrating hardened facilities to new levels.
Pentagon officials refused to clarify whether the bomb's development was in response to Iran's controversial nuclear arms program.
Last month Defense Secretary Robert Gates said an attack against Iran would only "buy time," delaying Tehran's dispute nuclear program by about three years.
That same month Iran conceded that it had begun building a new uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom. It has since then, however, taken a more conciliatory stance allowing for U.N. inspection of the site.
It is believed that the MOP, manufactured by aerospace giant Boeing, could become the biggest conventional weapon bomb to arm the United States.
earlier related report
Iran warns against
attack, boasts nuclear talks success
Iran issued another warning on
Friday against any attack on the Islamic republic, while claiming its talks with
world powers over its controversial nuclear programme were "a success and a
victory."
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's deputy representative to the elite Revolutionary Guards, Mojtaba Zolnour, said Tehran will "blow up the heart" of Israel if attacked by the Jewish state or the United States.
"Even if one American or Zionist missile hits our land, before the dust is settled, Iranian missiles will blow up the heart of Israel," state news agency IRNA quoted Zolnour as saying.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said Tehran would carry out severe reprisals if Israel or the United States attacked the country.
The United States and its regional ally Israel have never ruled out a military option to stop Tehran's nuclear drive, which the West says is aimed at making nuclear weapons while Iran says it is solely for peaceful ends.
After the 1979 Islamic revolution, Tehran withdrew its recognition of Israel.
The Jewish state considers the Islamic republic to be its arch-enemy after repeated statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Holocaust was a "myth" and that Israel is doomed to be "wiped off the map."
Another Khamenei appointee and one of Tehran's Friday prayer leaders, Ahmad Khatami, also issued a stern warning to Iran's enemies, without naming any.
"As our leader has said, our enemies are pursuing an Iranophobia scenario against us, and they are saying Iran is against world peace. But the world has understood that what they say is a lie," Khatami told worshippers in a sermon broadcast live on state-run radio.
"The enemy should know that if they want to hurt Iran they will receive such a slap that they will not be able to stand up," he added amid the habitual chants of "death to American and death to Israel."
Last month, Iran disclosed that it was building a second uranium enrichment plant, angering world powers and drawing an accusation from UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei that having kept the work secret was on the "wrong side of the law."
Tensions increased only days later, and just days before crucial talks in Geneva with world powers over Tehran's controversial nuclear programme, when Tehran tested several short- and medium-range missiles.
Khatami labelled those talks a "success and victory."
"The Geneva talks were a success and a victory for the Islamic republic system (since) even the Zionist and world arrogances' media confirmed this," he said.
"We owe this success to the wise guidance of the supreme leader and the ninth and tenth governments following his guidance," he added in reference to Ahmadinejad's previous and current administrations.
Iranian officials have maintained that they had the upper hand in the negotiations, with Ahmadinejad on Wednesday calling them a "step forward."
Western governments have been seeking reassurances that Iran's nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, and Iran agreed to open the newly disclosed enrichment plant to UN inspection.
Soon after the talks, ElBaradei visited Tehran to work out the modalities of the inspection, which is due to take place on October 25.
Iran also offered to send low-enriched uranium abroad so that it could be enriched to higher levels by a third party, and is to meet with France, Russia and the United States in Vienna on October 19 to work out the modalities.
Uranium enrichment lies at the heart of Western concerns about the Iranian nuclear programme. The sensitive process can produce fuel for civilian nuclear reactors or, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atomic bomb.
 Pakistani soldiers take up position after an attack on the entrance of army headquarters in the garrison city Rawalpindi on October 10, 2009. An attack on Pakistani army headquarters in Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad, ended with all four attackers killed, a military spokesman told local television. Photo courtesy AFP.Militants torch NATO supply vehicles in NW Pakistan: police Suspected Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan torched six trucks supplying fuel and other goods to NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan, police said Friday. The incident took place in outskirts of Peshawar, the troubled capital of northwest frontier province. "A total of six vehicles were set on fire by miscreants near Toor Baba area in the suburbs of Peshawar," police officer Asghar Hussain told AFP. Police in northwest Pakistan always use the word miscreants for Taliban militants. He said the vehicles, belonging to private Pakistani companies, were parked in front of an inn near a petrol pump when armed militants attacked before dawn and set the vehicles on fire after sprinkling petrol on them. "Four trucks, one oil tanker and a container were destroyed in the incident," police said, adding that militants also fired in the air before the attack. An intelligence official at Peshawar, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident. Militants have carried out a series of strikes against supplies for US and NATO-led foreign forces fighting against a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. The bulk of supplies and equipment required by the foreign troops across the border are shipped through northwest Pakistan's tribal region of Khyber. US officials say northwest Pakistan has become a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who fled the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan and have regrouped to launch attacks on foreign troops across the border. |
Islamabad (AFP) Oct 11, 2009
An audacious siege at Pakistan's army headquarters is deeply embarrassing for the military and shows the Islamist militant threat to the nuclear-armed nation is far from quashed, analysts say.
The government and armed forces have been trumpeting their military successes against the Taliban in the northwest Swat valley and hailing the death of militant commander Baitullah Mehsud in a US missile strike in August.
But instead of following up their Swat offensive with an all-out assault in the northwest tribal areas, the army instead have given the militants breathing space to regroup and stage a fierce come-back, experts told AFP.
The militant strike at the heart of the military establishment on Saturday and Sunday left 19 people dead, and was the third dramatic attack in less than a week, after the Taliban vowed to avenge Baitullah Mehsud's death.
"This incident will be very embarrassing for the armed forces," said Brigadier Saad Mohammad Khan, Pakistan's former defence attache in Kabul.
"This will also trigger insecurity and despondency among the people and they will be forced to think that even those who are responsible for providing them security are themselves so vulnerable and insecure."
The army launched a fierce operation in the former tourist paradise of Swat valley in April this year, after militants bent on imposing a harsh brand of Islamic law advanced to within 100 kilometres (60 miles) of Islamabad.
With nearly 2,200 militants dead in the region, Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed to have "broken the back" of the militia.
But a raid on a UN office that left five dead in the capital on Monday, a suicide car bombing that killed 52 civilians in northwest Peshawar on Friday and the latest strike in garrison city Rawalpindi cast doubt on that claim.
"There are weaknesses in the security system. Perceptions that recent operations have broken the back of the Taliban have proven wrong. They have staged a come-back with lot of precision," said defence analyst Hasan Askari.
Military and government officials have for months been threatening to also take on the insurgents in the northwest semi-autonomous tribal region along the Afghan border, the bastion of the Taliban leadership and an Al-Qaeda bolthole.
"We should expect more such attacks because the Taliban want to shift attention of security forces away from tribal areas," Askari said. "They will try their best to target important installations."
Their ability to strike was starkly illustrated with the brazen raid on the heavily-fortified army headquarters near Islamabad.
Thirty-nine hostages were freed after a day-long siege, but eight soldiers, three hostages and eight militants were killed in the initial attacks Saturday and the army rescue operation Sunday.
The United States has put Pakistan at the heart of its fight against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan, and has recently upped drone missile attacks in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt.
American and Pakistani officials spoke of bitter infighting among Taliban ranks after the death of Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone missile strike in the lawless South Waziristan region on August 5.
But the messy succession fight seems resolved, with new Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud appearing on local television channels last Monday vowing "severe" new attacks to avenge the killing.
"This was a very serious incident and a major security lapse. The government and the military should have taken seriously the threat hurled out by Taliban to avenge death of Baitullah Mehsud," said Khan.
A.H. Nayyar, a defence and security analyst, said that the government must also worry about the increasing influence of Al-Qaeda and a host of other Islamist groups that appear to be thriving in the wild tribal belt.
"I think this a reminder to the military that this is an all-out war and it has to give up any notions of taking a limited action against Taliban and its allies," he told AFP.
 More than 300 Northrop Grumman, EADS Defence and Security and EuroHawk GmbH employees as well as numerous officials from the German Air Force and Ministry of Defence gathered for the unprecedented event, which culminated in a dramatic curtain drop revealing the distinctively different aircraft to be equipped with the German mission system. |
Palmdale CA (SPX) Oct 12, 2009
Northrop Grumman and EADS Defence and Security (DS) introduced the first Euro Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS) in an unveiling ceremony today at Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, Calif., facility. The Euro Hawk marks the first international configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) UAS, and solidifies Northrop Grumman's first transatlantic cooperation with Germany and DS.
More than 300 employees from Northrop Grumman and DS and officials from the German Air Force and Ministry of Defence (MoD) gathered today for the ceremony, which concluded in a dramatic curtain drop revealing the distinctively different aircraft that will be equipped with German sensors.
"This Euro Hawk is testament to great collaboration between two companies, two countries and many, many people," said Duke Dufresne, sector vice president and general manager of the Strike and Surveillance Systems Division for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector. "Established as a 50-50 joint venture between Northrop Grumman and DS, the EuroHawk GmbH team which oversees the program has set a precedent in international relations for Northrop Grumman."
Based on the Block 20 Global Hawk, Euro Hawk will be equipped with new signal intelligence (SIGINT) mission system developed by DS. A ground station consisting of a mission control and launch and recovery elements will be provided by Northrop Grumman. DS will also provide a SIGINT ground station, which will receive and analyze the data from Euro Hawk as part of an integrated system solution.
"The SIGINT system provides standoff capability to detect electronic and communications emitters," said Nicolas Chamussy, senior vice president of Mission Air Systems for DS. "Thanks to our outstanding partnership with Northrop Grumman, the German Armed Forces will be able to independently cover their needs for SIGINT data collection and analysis, thus contributing to NATO, EU and UN peacekeeping operations."
The ceremony also included remarks by Ruediger Knopfel, deputy branch chief of Fixed Wing Aircraft for the German MoD; Gen. Hermann Muntz, director of Air Force Armaments and deputy commander for the German Air Force Weapon Systems Command; and Col. Volker Saueressig, division chief IMINT for Strategic Reconnaissance Command.
With a wingspan larger than a commercial airliner and endurance of 30 hours, Euro Hawk is an interoperable, modular and cost-effective replacement to the aging fleet of manned Breguet Atlantic aircraft, which have been in service since 1972 and will be retired in 2010. Subsequent systems are anticipated for delivery between 2016 and 2017 following successful testing and introduction in German operational service in 2011.
On Jan. 31, 2007, the German MoD awarded a $559 million contract to EuroHawk GmbH for the development, test and support of the Euro Hawk SIGINT system.
"Under this contract, EuroHawk GmbH will also provide aircraft modifications, mission control and launch and recovery ground segments, flight test and logistics support and will act as the national prime contractor for the German MoD through the entire lifecycle of the Euro Hawk," said Heinz-Juergen Rommel, chief executive officer of the EuroHawk GmbH. DS is a systems solutions provider for armed forces and civil security worldwide.
Its portfolio ranges from sensors and secure networks through missiles to aircraft and UAVs as well as global security, service and support solutions. EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2008, EADS employed a workforce of about 118,000.
 A soldier from V Corps’ Alpha Battery, 5th Battalion 7th Air Defense Artillery, positions a Patriot missile launcher in Tel Yona, Israel, as part of field training supporting exercise Juniper Cobra 05. The bi-annual exercise, to be held next month, comes at a time of heightened tensions between Israel and Iran. Elizabeth Hibner / Courtesy of the U.S. Army. |
Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Oct 9, 2009
Amid smoldering tension with Iran, U.S. forces are deploying in Israel for a strategically important ballistic missile defense exercise, considered one of the most complex ever conducted by the two allies.
Juniper Cobra 2009, the latest in a biennial series that began in 2001, will focus on how well U.S. and Israeli forces can integrate and operate together in any future confrontation with the Islamic Republic.
U.S. officials insist that the exercise, due to commence Monday and end next Friday, is routine. "This exercise is not related to or in response to any world events," the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv stressed.
But the maneuvers have taken on added importance since the U.S. administration scrapped plans to deploy land-based ballistic missile defense systems in Eastern Europe in August. The focus will now be on U.S. naval forces in the Mediterranean and the North Sea.
"Military exercises like Juniper Cobra do not take place in a vacuum," according to the Texas-based security consultancy Strategic Forecasting.
"The 2009 exercises were scheduled for spring. It seems that the schedule changed and regardless of the reason, the timing of these exercises will ratchet up already sky-high tensions between the West and Iran."
The exercises, it added, were "certainly a show of force at a politically opportune moment."
It is also possible that the unusually extensive U.S. participation this year is intended to reassure Israel, which considers Iran's nuclear and missile programs to be an existential threat.
Israel has threatened to launch unilateral pre-emptive strikes against Iran, while Washington, seeking to pursue a diplomatic solution, has urged caution. The sizeable U.S. deployment for Juniper Cobra 2009 could be meant to convince Israel to stay its hand.
There has been speculation that the Americans will leave behind some missile units when the maneuvers end to bolster Israel's defenses.
Some 1,000 troops from the U.S. European Command, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, and 15 warships from the U.S. 6th Fleet will participate in Juniper Cobra to work alongside Israelis in countering computer-simulated missile attacks from Iran and its Arab ally Syria, as well as from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
The Israelis have long feared that if Iran launched a ballistic missile strike at the Jewish state, it would be accompanied at some point by shorter-range attacks from Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Israel is in the process of building a multilayered defense shield against all calibers of missiles, dominated by the high-altitude, long-range Arrow-2 anti-ballistic system, whose development over the last decade has been largely funded by the Americans.
But the U.S. military, whose bases and installations in the Middle East are also potential targets for Iranian missiles, has found that Israel has become a handy testing ground for its own ballistic missile defense systems.
This dates back to the 1991 Gulf War, when Israel came under fire from Scud-type missiles unleashed by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The U.S. Army deployed Patriot missile batteries in the Jewish state to bolster Israel's own Patriots.
Juniper Cobra will involve limited live-fire exercises. The Israelis will test their upgraded Arrows during Juniper Cobra, while the Americans will test three of their BMD systems.
The Patriot Advanced Capability-3 batteries will link with an advanced U.S. X-band radar unit, capable of detecting and tracking multiple incoming missiles. That unit, manned by U.S. personnel, was set up at the Nevarim air base in the southern Negev desert in 2008.
The Americans will also deploy the Theater High Altitude Area Defense system, which works in conjunction with PAC-3 to intercept missiles in the final phase of their trajectory.
The 6th Fleet ships, which will be an integral part of the new U.S. BMD network, will complete the triad of U.S. BMD systems with the Standard Missile-3 aboard upgraded Aegis guided-missile cruisers and destroyers.
"This will not be the first time different elements of the U.S. BMD architecture have been tested together," Stratfor noted, "but there will be noteworthy developments nonetheless: Operating with foreign systems could offer considerable insight into the true state and deployability of the current American BMD architecture."
 |
Beijing (AFP) Oct 10, 2009
China said Saturday it was confident it could ensure the nation's safety after an Al-Qaeda leader called on members of the mainly Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang to launch a jihad against Beijing.
"The Chinese government has the confidence and the ability to protect the safety of the nation, of people's lives and property," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement faxed to AFP.
Ma was reacting to a call made this week by Abu Yahia al-Libi, one of Al-Qaeda's top leaders, in a video recording posted on an Islamist website, according to the SITE Intelligence group.
"Let our Muslim brothers in Turkestan know that there is no way for salvation and that there is no way to lift oppression and injustice but with truthful return to their faith and attachment to it as much as possible; to seriously prepare for jihad (holy war)," Libi said.
He also claimed the Uighurs suffered from discrimination, and pledged the communist Chinese regime would face the same fate as the former Soviet Union, which Islamist fighters had ferociously battled in Afghanistan.
But Ma said in the statement that China's northwest Xinjiang region -- where deadly unrest broke out in July between Uighurs and Han Chinese -- "fully implemented measures of ethnic equality and religious freedom."
"We will continue to cooperate with the international community to jointly face the terrorism threat," he said.
On July 5, ethnic riots in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, led to nearly 200 deaths, mostly Han Chinese, according to authorities.
But exiled Uighur leaders have blamed the outbreak of violence on Chinese forces, accusing them of opening fire on peaceful protests over the murder of two Uighurs in a factory brawl in the southern province of Guangdong.
China sentenced to death one of the instigators of the fight on Saturday and another was given a life prison term in a move that could be interpreted as an attempt to appease the Uighur community.
But hundreds have been arrested over the July violence in Urumqi and tensions remain high in the region.
Canada's military peers into future, and it's scary
In the worst-case scenarios, oil prices quadruple, drones patrol the skies, global wars spill into cities
Residents walk past the aftermath of a suicide bomb explosion in Kohat, located in Pakistan's northwest Frontier Province. (Oct. 15, 2009)
REUTERS PHOTOOTTAWA–The war between India and Pakistan spills over into Toronto's immigrant suburbs. A terrorist sleeper cell poisons Montreal's water system. Mandatory military service is enacted for young and new Canadians.
While the country's politicians debate what Canada's engagement in Afghanistan will look like after the current mission ends in 2011, the military has already peered far past that date to determine its training and equipment needs and the worst-case scenarios it must prepare to face.
While the Armed Forces constantly project scenarios for which to train, these hypothetical situations are rarely publicized. Although they appear far-fetched, the military is obliged to prepare for the worst, or risk being unready in the event of a catastrophe.
A 10-year forecast completed for the air force lays out likely trends in areas such as oil prices and aviation technologies, but also a series of "strategic shocks" – unpredictable events that could throw the best-laid plans off course.
The report predicts that oil prices will have doubled, tripled or quadrupled by 2019, unmanned attack aircraft will police the skies, and the Arctic will have become the zone of interest for the world's great powers.
A lethal, all-commando Canadian army may not stay in Kandahar, but it will be fighting terrorists in a geographic rainbow known as the "arc of instability" – a region stretching from western Africa, through the Middle East and into Southeast Asia.
"These areas have also traditionally served as potential safe havens for terrorists in developing, organizing and preparing for asymmetric attacks against the developed world," says the report, produced earlier this year by the Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre.
No more country-to-country wars for Canada. Instead, soldiers will face shadowy enemies in weak or failed states with little regard for civilian safety.
"It is projected that irregular challenges, asymmetrical warfare, low-intensity conflicts and insurgencies will be the most prevalent form of conflict until 2019."
The report also explicitly probes Canada's domestic fault lines – features like our shared border and trade ties with the United States or our large immigrant populations – and puts them up against some of the world's most volatile disputes to offer scenarios showing how a largely peaceful society could be torn apart.
They include:
The introduction of national military service for new Canadians in 2016 to tackle large immigration flows and a depleted military.
War between India and Pakistan that sparks clashes in B.C.'s Lower Mainland and Ontario suburbs where refugee and immigrant populations from the two countries have settled.
A Taliban sleeper cell poisons the Montreal water system, killing and sickening thousands. Hospitals are swamped, the U.S. border closes and tourism plummets.
A large-scale Canadian military deployment to Afghanistan in 2016 to ensure Canadian business has free access to protectionist U.S. markets.
The scenarios may seem improbable, but they all have some basis in reality: Canada's dependence on the U.S.; international terrorist ambitions; simmering conflict in South Asia; and a stagnant military.
A study by the University of Ottawa earlier this year looked at security threats to Canada in 2020 and came up with similar outcomes to those of the military.
In one, the Pakistani state collapses in 2016 and India moves in, appointing friendly politicians and establishing its own laws. Protests eventually give way to riots in "Little Toronto," where Indians and Pakistanis live side-by-side.
"Fundamentalist feelings have flared up, opening the door to terrorist organizations and the recruitment of new members," says the April study.
The military's scenarios may be conceivable, but there's no evidence they are likely to occur, said Paul Robinson, a University of Ottawa professor and former military intelligence officer who helped design the dystopian outcomes for the University of Ottawa study.
"Scenario building is never desperately scientific in the sense that you are engaging in fantasy, but you can engage in fantasy in a more solidly grounded basis," he said.
In his opinion, the air force's strategic shocks are less grounded in scientific method than in the politics of a military bureaucracy competing for money.
"I suspect it's in an air force report because it makes you scared, and if it makes you scared you'll spend more on defence," he said. "That's just my cynical view."
The air force report cites various Canadian and British military studies to come up with its forecasts, as well as an official Air Force Strategy paper and the "vision of the Chief of the Air Staff."
As for the flying wing of the Canadian Forces, the future lies in the North and high in the skies.
With climate change, melting Arctic ice and the possibility of up to 80 per cent of the global transportation market moving through Canadian waterways, the air force plans to better protect Canadian territory, deter unfriendly visitors and rescue those in trouble in the unforgiving territory.
Dwindling global fuel stocks, and unstable oil prices, also make it more likely that the pilots of the future will have two feet on the ground, controlling surveillance and attack drones by remote control. It's unlikely the air force will ever purchase another fighter jet to replace its CF-18s, the report says. "In the future, smaller, cheaper and expendable unmanned combat aerial vehicles ... will have unsurpassable advantages over manned platforms in both performance and costs."
 He said the weapon's speed-of-light, ultra-precision capability will increase a soldier's ability to counter enemy attacks involving rockets, artillery or mortars. |
Albuquerque (UPI) Oct 27, 2009
A laser weapon mounted on a vehicle that is set to enter U.S. Army service in a few years passed two key tests at the Boeing Co.'s review sites, the company announced.
The High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator program is part of a U.S. Army plan to give its fighting capability an edge over adversaries and also to better protect soldiers in a battlefront environment.
Blaine Beardsley, Boeing's program manager for HEL TD, told United Press International the program had moved from design into fabrication and assembly of the hardware needed for the solid-state laser weapon.
Everything for the second phase is being fabricated and assembled, from the optics, structure, tactical truck and processors to software and sensors, Beardsley said.
This summer Boeing went through a critical design review for the weapon, which is mounted on and eventually will be launched from a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, a widely used tactical vehicle.
Boeing experts have been concentrating on developing a state-of-the-art solid-state laser weapon system, the latest of several laser innovations that Boeing has been developing in close coordination with the U.S. military.
"This demonstration program is making significant progress in developing a weapon system that will transform the way soldiers are protected on the battlefield," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Missile Defense Systems' Directed Energy Systems unit.
He said the weapon's speed-of-light, ultra-precision capability will increase a soldier's ability to counter enemy attacks involving rockets, artillery or mortars.
The contract for the weapon's development was won by Boeing in 2008. It includes a plan to develop the system-engineering requirements for the overall HEL TD system and to complete the design of, then build, test and evaluate, a rugged beam control system on board the vehicle.
Beardsley explained, "The beam control system receives the laser beam from the laser device, reshapes and aligns it, and points and focuses it on the target. In parallel, the beam control system is acquiring, tracking and selecting an aimpoint on the target. The system includes mirrors, high-speed processors and high-speed optical sensors."
HEL TD is a cornerstone of the Army's high-energy laser program, and the ongoing demonstration program is geared toward a transition to a full-fledged development and acquisition of the weapon by the U.S. military.
Boeing has already developed other high-energy laser systems for battlefield applications, including the Airborne Laser, Advanced Tactical Laser, Free Electron Laser, Laser Avenger and Tactical Relay Mirror System.
 Spain, France lose right to use Kyrgyz air base: report Spanish and French troops had to leave a key air base in Kyrgyzstan used for missions to Afghanistan after permission was withdrawn for them to use it, the French military and Spanish radio said Sunday. Spain temporarily moved the roughly 60 soldiers and two Hercules C-130 aircraft which it had stationed at the base at Manas to Herat in Afghanistan on October 13, Cadena Ser radio reported, citing unnamed diplomatic sources. The French armed forces said its equipment and troops were moved from the base near the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, to Tajik capital Dushanbe. "At the start of October, the French supply aircraft and around 30 servicemen who man it left Manas for Dushanbe where they are continuing their mission," the armed forces said. "The agreement that authorised them to work in Kyrgyzstan expired and a new agreement is still being negotiated." There was no immediate confirmation from Spain's defence ministry. Kyrgyzstan cancelled deals for use of the base -- a refuelling point for aircraft supplying NATO forces in Afghanistan -- with Spain and France in March when it overturned a separate base agreement with the United States. In June, Kyrgyzstan agreed to let the United States continue to use the base after Washington said it was willing to pay more to have access to it. Earlier this month Spain sent a delegation to Kyrgyzstan to negotiate a similar agreement, but the talks broke down, the radio station said. Spain has lost the use of the base just as it has agreed to boost its troop contingent in Afghanistan ahead of the second round of the presidential election on November 7, it added. Top US general holds talks with Tajikistan president General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, held talks Monday in Tajikistan with President Emomali Rakhmon on military cooperation in the region. Security is increasingly a concern for Tajikistan, the poorest ex-Soviet state, and four gunmen from a Taliban-linked militant group were killed near the country's northern border with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan last week. Dushanbe sent troops into the volatile Rasht Valley region near the border with Afghanistan earlier this year amid reports that militants were using Tajik territory to cross from Afghanistan into the heart of Central Asia. Petraeus addressed the growing security concerns, which some observers have suggested are a result of intensified military operations both in Afghanistan and Pakistan, following his discussions with Rakhmon. "First of all let me just say that we are very sensitive to the movement of extremists in response to our operations," Petraeus told reporters after the meeting. "One reason we have worked with all of the countries to the north of Afghanistan to help with their borders and customs and special operation forces is to ensure that they have the capability if required to combat extremism." Islamist groups were largely pushed out of Tajikistan after the end of the country's 1990s civil war, in which tens of thousands of people died. Washington won deals with several ex-Soviet states in Central Asia to host supply routes earlier this year, as attacks have mounted on a supply route from Pakistan. Petraeus's visit comes as US President Barack Obama weighs sending more troops to Afghanistan. A US embassy spokeswoman earlier said Petraeus was meeting with Rakhmon and Tajik military officials to discuss "joint cooperation in promoting stability in Afghanistan." "They are going to be talking about combating drug trafficking, preventing terrorism and... border security," she added. Tajikistan, which shares a porous 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) border with war-ravaged Afghanistan, agreed a deal with Washington in February for the transit of non-lethal US supplies for troops in Afghanistan. |
Washington (AFP) Oct 26, 2009
Top Pentagon military officers conducted a secret war game this month to evaluate the two primary military options considered under a broad White House review of the Afghan war, The Washington Post reported Monday.
Citing unnamed senior military officials, the newspaper said Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen led the exercise himself.
The game examined the likely outcome of sending 44,000 more troops into the country to conduct a full-scale counterinsurgency effort aimed at building a stable Afghan government that can control most of the country, the report said.
But it also examined adding 10,000 to 15,000 more soldiers and Marines as part of an approach that the military has dubbed "counterterrorism plus," the paper noted.
The Pentagon war game did not formally endorse either course, The Post reported.
Instead, it tried to gauge how Taliban fighters, the Afghan and Pakistani governments and NATO allies might react to either of the scenarios, the paper pointed out.
Mullen has discussed its conclusions with senior White House officials.
One of the exercise's key assumptions was that an increase of 10,000 to 15,000 troops would not in the near future give US commanders the forces they need to take back havens from the Taliban commanders in southern and western Afghanistan, The Post said.
"We were running out the options and trying to understand the implications from many different perspectives, including the enemy and the Afghan people," the paper quotes one senior military official as saying.
 disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only |
Amsterdam (UPI) Dec 28, 2009
Passenger check-in security is under intense scrutiny after the foiled attempt to blow up a plane en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Dutch media report.
The failed bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, went through security checks at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport when he transferred onto Northwest Airlines flight 253, an Airbus A330. A report by Radio Netherlands Worldwide said that Dutch Anti-Terrorism Coordinator Erik Akerboom admitted the airport's security checks are not watertight.
It is not clear whether all transfer passengers are checked by sniffer dogs, the radio report said.
In May 2007 Schiphol became one of the first international airports to introduce the latest body-scanning technology at security checkpoints. Security Scan is a machine that produces an image of body contours using millimeter wave-reflection technology. The image tells security staff whether a passenger is carrying prohibited items on his or her body. Security Scan is also unlike the more familiar Body Scan in which X-rays pass through the body to trace swallowed items.
Dutch members of Parliament are demanding an account of the situation at Schiphol, and the far-right Freedom Party is calling for an emergency debate on the issue.
U.S. authorities have charged Abdulmutallab with bringing explosives on board and attempting to blow up an aircraft. Both charges carry sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
Dutch media are also reporting fulsome praise by readers for Jasper Schuringa, the passenger whose quick thinking averted a major air disaster. He was first to notice something suspicious and made moves to overpower the Nigerian and wrest a burning device from the would-be bomber. Schuringa was later helped by other passengers and flight crew to put handcuffs on the man.
Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Wouter Bos reportedly telephoned Schuringa to thank him for his part in affair.
In the United Kingdom police are searching several London properties linked to the Nigerian, who was an engineering student at University College London between 2005 and 2008, the BBC reports. According to government sources, Abdulmutallab, whose father is a prominent Nigerian banker, was denied a new visa this summer by the U.K. Border Agency after attempting to apply for a course at a bogus college.
His father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, said he knew that his son had left London where he was a student to travel, but he did not know where he was going. "I believe he might have been to Yemen, but we are investigating to determine that," a BBC report quoted him as saying. The former minister and chairman of First Bank in Nigeria has been meeting with Nigerian security officials in the capital Abuja.
Police in London have cordoned off a basement apartment and have been conducting searches. Apartments in the area have been sold for upwards of $3 million, the BBC said.
At British airports travelers are undergoing pat-down searches before boarding and being restricted to one item of hand luggage. Several flights bound for the United States from London's main airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, were delayed up to three hours to allow for extra security checks.
Despite the delays, few passengers were complaining, the BBC reported.
 disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only |
Sanaa, Yemen (UPI) Dec 28, 2009
All the signs are that the Obama administration is cranking up its secret war against al-Qaida in Yemen.
The acknowledgement of increasing intelligence cooperation with the beleaguered Sanaa regime, which resulted in a string of attacks on the jihadists' bases in which some 50-60 operatives were reported killed or captured over the last two weeks, is a strong indication that the Americans are showing a new determination to eliminate the militants who call themselves al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
A report carried by The New York Times Monday that the United States has opened a "largely covert front" against al-Qaida in Yemen underlines how Washington perceives the organization to be a serious threat not only to the Sanaa government, battered by a plethora of crises, but to the West, and the United States in particular.
The bizarre -- and still largely unexplained -- attempt by a Nigerian engineering student, son of his country's leading banker, to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam on Christmas Day has added to U.S. unease about al-Qaeda's swelling resurgence in Yemen, ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden.
According to reports, the Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has admitted that he was trained in Yemen at an al-Qaida camp and dispatched on his suicide mission from there.
But these allegations mostly appear to originate with IntelCenter, a private contractor that Antiwar.com describes as having a "dubious reputation" and "does business with the intelligence community."
Admittedly, it's still early days in the U.S. investigation, but the plot appears to get curioser and curioser.
One passenger aboard Northwest Flight 253 described how Abdulmutallab was escorted to the check-in desk at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport by a well-dressed "Indian man" about 50 years old who told the airline attendants that the younger man did not have a passport but had to get on the flight.
The two men were told to go see the airline manager. "I never saw the Indian man again as he wasn't on the flight," said the passenger, Kurt Haskell.
"It was also weird that the terrorist never said a word in this exchange. Anyway, somehow, the terrorist still made it onto the plane. I'm not sure whether it was a bribe or just sympathy from the security manager."
The same witness said that after the airliner landed safely in Detroit that the Federal Bureau of Investigation "arrested a different Indian man while we were held in customs after a bomb-sniffing dog detected a bomb in his carry-on bag and he was searched Â…
"I'm not sure why this hasn't made it into a new story, but I stood about 15-20 feet away from the other Indian man when he was cuffed and arrested."
These observations, so far not disclosed let alone explained by U.S. authorities, have prompted suspicions that the whole episode was being used to demonstrate that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula poses a direct threat to the United States, not just to the corrupt regime in Sanaa, and therefore required direct action by President Barack Obama even as he cranks up the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
U.S. authorities say that the bomb Abdulmutallab failed to detonate was made of a powerful military explosive, pentaerythritol, or PETN.
This was the same explosive used by al-Qaida in an abortive attempt in August to assassinate Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia's deputy interior minister and head of its counter-terrorism branch, which crushed the jihadists in the kingdom in 2007.
Most of the al-Qaida activists who survived fled to Yemen to form the core of a resurgent organization that apparently planned to renew operations against the Saudi monarchy.
Further bolstering the signals that the White House is poised to take the war to the jihadists in Yemen far more forcefully than hitherto was a September visit to Sanaa by John Brennan, Obama's counter-terrorism chief.
At the same time, Obama, in an unusually strong statement, declared the security of Yemen, which straddles the vital oil tanker routes of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, to be "vital for the security of the United States."
Any U.S. escalation there will likely involve similar action in the failed state of Somalia, across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen. There jihadists linked to al-Qaida are fighting a fragile U.S.-backed transitional government. Several key figures have been assassinated by U.S. teams.
 File image of the cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear reactor in North Korea. |
Washington (AFP) Dec 27, 2009
North Korea may have constructed a plant to manufacture a gas needed for uranium enrichment in a development that would indicate that Pyongyang had opened a second way to build nuclear weapons as early as the 1990s, The Washington Post reported late Sunday.
Citing a previously unpublicized account by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb program, the newspaper said North Korea may have been enriching uranium on a small scale by 2002, with maybe 3,000 or even more centrifuges.
Pakistan helped North Korea with vital machinery, drawings and technical advice for at least six years, the report said.
The Post said Khan's account could not be independently corroborated. But one US intelligence official and a US diplomat said his information adds to their suspicions that North Korea has long pursued the enrichment of uranium in addition to making plutonium for bombs.
It also may help explain Pyongyang's assertion in September that it is in the final stages of such enrichment, the paper noted.
Khan described his dealings with the country in official documents and in correspondence with a former British journalist, Simon Henderson, who said he thinks an accurate understanding of Pakistan's nuclear history is relevant for US policymaking, the report pointed out.
The Post independently verified that the documents were produced by Khan.
Khan's account of the pilot plant depicts relations between the two countries' scientists as exceptionally close for nearly a decade, the paper said.
Khan says, for example, that during a visit to North Korea in 1999, he toured a mountain tunnel, according to the report. There his hosts showed him boxes containing components of three finished nuclear warheads, which he was told could be assembled for use atop missiles within an hour.
His visit occurred seven years before the country's first detonation, prompting some current and former US officials to say that Khan's account, if correct, suggests North Korea's achievements were more advanced than previously known, and that the country may have more sophisticated weapons, or a larger number, than earlier estimated, The Post said.
But Siegfried Hecker, a former Los Alamos National Laboratory director who was allowed to see some North Korean plutonium during a visit to its nuclear facilities in January 2004, said after hearing Khan's description of the trip he remains unconvinced that the country in 1999 had enough fissile material on hand to make such weapons.
The Post quotes Hecker as saying that Khan may have tried to get himself "off the hook" by implying that his own illicit technical assistance to Pyongyang was irrelevant because "these guys already had nuclear weapons."
 |
Jerusalem (AFP) Dec 28, 2009
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that Iran's recently diclosed second uranium enrichment plant is "immune" to conventional bombing.
"The new site near Qom is meant for enrichment. What was revealed by the Iranians had been built over years and is located in bunkers that cannot be destroyed through a conventional attack," Barak told parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee.
Iran notified the UN nuclear watchdog in September that it was building a second enrichment plant near the central shrine city of Qom, after Washington accused it of covertly evading its notification responsibilities under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Confirmation of the construction work drew criticism not only from Western governments but also from the United Nations.
Enriched uranium can make the fuel for nuclear power plants but in highly extended form can also produce the fissile core of an atomic bomb.
Along with Western governments, Israel suspects Iran of seeking to develop a weapons capability under the guise of a civil nuclear programme, an accusation Tehran denies.
Along with its US ally, Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has refused to rule out a resort to military action to prevent Iran developing a bomb.
Barak said he feared Iran could develop a weapon by 2011.
"I believe that by early 2010 Iran will hold threshold technology (for building a bomb). That means that if it wanted, it could develop nuclear weapons within a year from obtaining threshold technology," a senior official quoted him as telling the parliamentary committee.
(A need to change this)Several travel firms refuse ID cards as passport
alternative
Published 29 December 2009
Major travel companies say they would not recognize the U.K. ID
cards as alternative to passports for European travel by U.K. citizens; more
problems for the already-mired-in-controversy scheme
The supposed usefulness of U.K. ID cards has been called into question by
news that major travel companies are telling would-be passengers that ID cards
are not valid travel credentials for travel in Europe.
John Leyden writes
that around 1,736 people in Greater Manchester have voluntarily paid £30 for
biometric-based ID cards since a pilot program was launched at the end of last
month. The Home Office said these ID cards could be used for travel in Europe,
as well as being a means of identity in opening up bank accounts and the like.
One ID card pioneer, Norman Eastwood from Salford, was denied passage on a
P&O ferry from Hull to Rotterdam on Saturday after he was told he was not
going anywhere without his passport. Dutch passengers with national ID cards
issued in The Netherlands, by contrast, were allowed passage on the
same journey.
The Home Office told Leyden on Tuesday that it informed P&O and other
international carriers twice about the “U.K. National Identity Card’s design and
security features” in the run-up to the issue of cards. It said Eastwood’s
unfortunate experience was an isolated incident caused by P&O’s local staff
not being aware of the National Identity Card, a gap in knowledge the ferry firm
has promised to plug.
A timely investigation by the Manchester Evening News
revealed, however, that P&O were far from alone in not understanding how
U.K.-issued ID cards can be used as an alternative to passports for travel
in Europe.
Front-line customer service workers at nine major travel firms — including
British Airways, Eurostar, and BMI baby — told MEN reporters posing as would-be
customers that ID cards are no good for travel. Eight of the nine firms
subsequently issued statements saying that their staff had given the wrong
advice but Eurostar remained uncertain. “We are unable to confirm whether the ID
cards are valid on Eurostar at this time,” a Eurostar spokesman told
the MEN.
Two German airlines, German Wings and Air Berlin (both of which run flights
from Manchester Airport), said that U.K. ID cards would not be accepted until
they are officially recognized by the German government.
Only four travel firms quizzed by the MEN — Easyjet, Ryanair, Brittany
Ferries, and KLM — said ID cards were sufficient for travel to Europe.
In a statement, the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) said it remained
confident that the majority of travelers will have no problems using ID cards as
an alternative to passports.
The National Identity Card is a valid document for travel and is as good as a
passport in Europe.
We expect all carriers in the U.K. to accept National
Identity Cards for travel as a legal duty and we are confident that the vast
majority of travelers will have no problems using their Identity Card as a
travel document.
Customers who are concerned or experience problems using their National
Identity Card should call the Identity and Passport Service helpline.
The ID card scheme pilot program that started in Manchester on 30 November
has been expanded into Liverpool. Ministers most recently signed off plans to
expand the scheme, a watered-down version of an earlier, compulsory roll-out, to
the north-west of England and Scotland and Wales starting 4 January. A
nationwide roll-out later next year is expected.
The opposition Conservatives have pledged to scrap the ID
card program if they are elected into government by a general election that must
happen before the end of June 2010.
L-1 Identity Solutions Unveils PIV-TWIC Access Control Reader Device
Designed for Extreme Outdoor Operating Conditions
Additional Indoor, Weatherized and Extreme Condition Devices Also Announced for
Government and Commercial Markets
STAMFORD, Conn.--(Business Wire)--
L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:ID), a leading provider of identity solutions
and services, today released a series of indoor, weatherized and extreme access
control devices for the commercial and government market. An order has already
been placed for the 4G PIV-TWIC Station Extreme, designed to meet the
specialized needs of ports, military bases and airports. All of the products are
being demonstrated this week concurrent with the ASIS International Conference
in Anaheim, California and at the Biometrics Consortium Conference in Tampa,
Florida in booth #401.
"Our access control solutions can now perform in any operating condition and in
any government and commercial installation," said Robert V. LaPenta, Chairman,
President and CEO of L-1 Identity Solutions. "I am particularly pleased with our
new PIV-TWIC reader, a solution that is a direct response to the need for a more
robust device for securing access to our nation`s ports. Early feedback on the
unit from the field indicates that it is significantly stronger than other
readers under pilot at the ports today and we believe much of the functionality
we offer in the unit today will set a new standard for the industry in the
future."
The 4G PIV-TWIC Station Extreme is ruggedized and can withstand sub zero
climates of -13 degrees Fahrenheit and desert temperatures of 158 degrees. It is
IP 65 certified and capable of operating in severe downpours, ice and snow. The
unit consistently identifies users regardless of finger conditions that may be
wet, greasy, severely dry or cut or damaged. It also includes added security
features such as fake fingerprint detection and anti-spoofing capabilities.
Other key features of the PIV-TWIC Station include:
* Single units read multiple credential types, performing biometric verification
for PIV, TWIC and CAC-EP cards, visitor and transition cards (MIFARE, DESFire).
* Features large 3.5 inch color LCD display screen and can display 2D color
images contained on cards.
* Leverages the latest communication standards with support for Ethernet, PoE
and wireless LAN (WiFi).
* Offers flexible deployment options with single, two- or three- factor
authentication.
* Accommodates MARSEC and threat level security requirements with the ability to
operate in several different modes.
* Provides extensive storage capabilities at the device level for locally stored
hotlists, Certificate Revocation Lists (CRL), event logs, biometric templates
and more.
The Extreme and indoor versions of the 4G PIV-TWIC Station meet Transportation
Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) ICE certification requirements as
mandated by the Transportation Security Administration Authority (TSA).
Other new products available for the commercial market include the 4G V-Station
Extreme for harsh operating environments and two weather resistant readers for
moderate outdoor conditions, the 4G V-Flex WR and 4G V-Station WR.
About L-1 Identity Solutions
L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: ID) protects and secures personal identities
and assets. Its divisions include Biometrics, Secure Credentialing and
Enterprise Access solutions, as well as Enrollment and Government Consulting
services. With the trust and confidence in individual identities provided by
L-1, international governments, federal and state agencies, law enforcement and
commercial businesses can better guard the public against global terrorism,
crime and identity theft fostered by fraudulent identity. L-1 Identity Solutions
has more than 2,200 employees worldwide and is headquartered in Stamford, CT.
For more information, visit www.L1ID.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this press release and those made
from time to time by L-1 Identity Solutions through its senior management are
made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's
current views based on management's beliefs and assumptions and information
currently available. Forward-looking statements concerning future plans or
results are necessarily only estimates, and actual results could differ
materially from expectations. Certain factors that could cause or contribute to
such differences include, among other things, availability of government funding
for L-1's products and solutions, the unpredictable nature of working with
federal, state and local government customers, and general economic and
political conditions. Additional risks and uncertainties are described in the
Securities and Exchange Commission filings of the Company, including the
Company`s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and the Company`s Form
10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. L-1 Identity Solutions expressly
disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
ID-S
L-1 Identity Solutions
Doni Fordyce, 203-504-1109
dfordyce@L1ID.com
Copyright Business Wire 2009
Handheld touch screen device may lead to mobile fingerprint
ID
(A need to change this)Several travel firms refuse ID cards as passport
alternative
Published 29 December 2009
Major travel companies say they would not recognize the U.K. ID
cards as alternative to passports for European travel by U.K. citizens; more
problems for the already-mired-in-controversy scheme
The supposed usefulness of U.K. ID cards has been called into question by
news that major travel companies are telling would-be passengers that ID cards
are not valid travel credentials for travel in Europe.
John Leyden writes
that around 1,736 people in Greater Manchester have voluntarily paid £30 for
biometric-based ID cards since a pilot program was launched at the end of last
month. The Home Office said these ID cards could be used for travel in Europe,
as well as being a means of identity in opening up bank accounts and the like.
One ID card pioneer, Norman Eastwood from Salford, was denied passage on a
P&O ferry from Hull to Rotterdam on Saturday after he was told he was not
going anywhere without his passport. Dutch passengers with national ID cards
issued in The Netherlands, by contrast, were allowed passage on the
same journey.
The Home Office told Leyden on Tuesday that it informed P&O and other
international carriers twice about the “U.K. National Identity Card’s design and
security features” in the run-up to the issue of cards. It said Eastwood’s
unfortunate experience was an isolated incident caused by P&O’s local staff
not being aware of the National Identity Card, a gap in knowledge the ferry firm
has promised to plug.
A timely investigation by the Manchester Evening News
revealed, however, that P&O were far from alone in not understanding how
U.K.-issued ID cards can be used as an alternative to passports for travel
in Europe.
Front-line customer service workers at nine major travel firms — including
British Airways, Eurostar, and BMI baby — told MEN reporters posing as would-be
customers that ID cards are no good for travel. Eight of the nine firms
subsequently issued statements saying that their staff had given the wrong
advice but Eurostar remained uncertain. “We are unable to confirm whether the ID
cards are valid on Eurostar at this time,” a Eurostar spokesman told
the MEN.
Two German airlines, German Wings and Air Berlin (both of which run flights
from Manchester Airport), said that U.K. ID cards would not be accepted until
they are officially recognized by the German government.
Only four travel firms quizzed by the MEN — Easyjet, Ryanair, Brittany
Ferries, and KLM — said ID cards were sufficient for travel to Europe.
In a statement, the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) said it remained
confident that the majority of travelers will have no problems using ID cards as
an alternative to passports.
The National Identity Card is a valid document for travel and is as good as a
passport in Europe.
We expect all carriers in the U.K. to accept National
Identity Cards for travel as a legal duty and we are confident that the vast
majority of travelers will have no problems using their Identity Card as a
travel document.
Customers who are concerned or experience problems using their National
Identity Card should call the Identity and Passport Service helpline.
The ID card scheme pilot program that started in Manchester on 30 November
has been expanded into Liverpool. Ministers most recently signed off plans to
expand the scheme, a watered-down version of an earlier, compulsory roll-out, to
the north-west of England and Scotland and Wales starting 4 January. A
nationwide roll-out later next year is expected.
The opposition Conservatives have pledged to scrap the ID
card program if they are elected into government by a general election that must
happen before the end of June 2010.
L-1 Identity Solutions Unveils PIV-TWIC Access Control Reader Device
Designed for Extreme Outdoor Operating Conditions
(A need to change this)Several travel firms refuse ID cards as passport alternative
Published 29 December 2009
Major travel companies say they would not recognize the U.K. ID cards as alternative to passports for European travel by U.K. citizens; more problems for the already-mired-in-controversy scheme
The supposed usefulness of U.K. ID cards has been called into question by news that major travel companies are telling would-be passengers that ID cards are not valid travel credentials for travel in Europe.
John Leyden writes that around 1,736 people in Greater Manchester have voluntarily paid £30 for biometric-based ID cards since a pilot program was launched at the end of last month. The Home Office said these ID cards could be used for travel in Europe, as well as being a means of identity in opening up bank accounts and the like. One ID card pioneer, Norman Eastwood from Salford, was denied passage on a P&O ferry from Hull to Rotterdam on Saturday after he was told he was not going anywhere without his passport. Dutch passengers with national ID cards issued in The Netherlands, by contrast, were allowed passage on the same journey.
The Home Office told Leyden on Tuesday that it informed P&O and other international carriers twice about the “U.K. National Identity Card’s design and security features” in the run-up to the issue of cards. It said Eastwood’s unfortunate experience was an isolated incident caused by P&O’s local staff not being aware of the National Identity Card, a gap in knowledge the ferry firm has promised to plug.
A timely investigation by the Manchester Evening News revealed, however, that P&O were far from alone in not understanding how U.K.-issued ID cards can be used as an alternative to passports for travel in Europe.
Front-line customer service workers at nine major travel firms — including British Airways, Eurostar, and BMI baby — told MEN reporters posing as would-be customers that ID cards are no good for travel. Eight of the nine firms subsequently issued statements saying that their staff had given the wrong advice but Eurostar remained uncertain. “We are unable to confirm whether the ID cards are valid on Eurostar at this time,” a Eurostar spokesman told the MEN.
Two German airlines, German Wings and Air Berlin (both of which run flights from Manchester Airport), said that U.K. ID cards would not be accepted until they are officially recognized by the German government.
Only four travel firms quizzed by the MEN — Easyjet, Ryanair, Brittany Ferries, and KLM — said ID cards were sufficient for travel to Europe.
In a statement, the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) said it remained confident that the majority of travelers will have no problems using ID cards as an alternative to passports.
The National Identity Card is a valid document for travel and is as good as a passport in Europe.
We expect all carriers in the U.K. to accept National Identity Cards for travel as a legal duty and we are confident that the vast majority of travelers will have no problems using their Identity Card as a travel document.
Customers who are concerned or experience problems using their National Identity Card should call the Identity and Passport Service helpline.
The ID card scheme pilot program that started in Manchester on 30 November has been expanded into Liverpool. Ministers most recently signed off plans to expand the scheme, a watered-down version of an earlier, compulsory roll-out, to the north-west of England and Scotland and Wales starting 4 January. A nationwide roll-out later next year is expected.
The opposition Conservatives have pledged to scrap the ID card program if they are elected into government by a general election that must happen before the end of June 2010.
Additional Indoor, Weatherized and Extreme Condition Devices Also Announced for Government and Commercial Markets STAMFORD, Conn.--(Business Wire)-- L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:ID), a leading provider of identity solutions and services, today released a series of indoor, weatherized and extreme access control devices for the commercial and government market. An order has already been placed for the 4G PIV-TWIC Station Extreme, designed to meet the specialized needs of ports, military bases and airports. All of the products are being demonstrated this week concurrent with the ASIS International Conference in Anaheim, California and at the Biometrics Consortium Conference in Tampa, Florida in booth #401. "Our access control solutions can now perform in any operating condition and in any government and commercial installation," said Robert V. LaPenta, Chairman, President and CEO of L-1 Identity Solutions. "I am particularly pleased with our new PIV-TWIC reader, a solution that is a direct response to the need for a more robust device for securing access to our nation`s ports. Early feedback on the unit from the field indicates that it is significantly stronger than other readers under pilot at the ports today and we believe much of the functionality we offer in the unit today will set a new standard for the industry in the future." The 4G PIV-TWIC Station Extreme is ruggedized and can withstand sub zero climates of -13 degrees Fahrenheit and desert temperatures of 158 degrees. It is IP 65 certified and capable of operating in severe downpours, ice and snow. The unit consistently identifies users regardless of finger conditions that may be wet, greasy, severely dry or cut or damaged. It also includes added security features such as fake fingerprint detection and anti-spoofing capabilities. Other key features of the PIV-TWIC Station include: * Single units read multiple credential types, performing biometric verification for PIV, TWIC and CAC-EP cards, visitor and transition cards (MIFARE, DESFire). * Features large 3.5 inch color LCD display screen and can display 2D color images contained on cards. * Leverages the latest communication standards with support for Ethernet, PoE and wireless LAN (WiFi). * Offers flexible deployment options with single, two- or three- factor authentication. * Accommodates MARSEC and threat level security requirements with the ability to operate in several different modes. * Provides extensive storage capabilities at the device level for locally stored hotlists, Certificate Revocation Lists (CRL), event logs, biometric templates and more. The Extreme and indoor versions of the 4G PIV-TWIC Station meet Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) ICE certification requirements as mandated by the Transportation Security Administration Authority (TSA). Other new products available for the commercial market include the 4G V-Station Extreme for harsh operating environments and two weather resistant readers for moderate outdoor conditions, the 4G V-Flex WR and 4G V-Station WR. About L-1 Identity Solutions L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: ID) protects and secures personal identities and assets. Its divisions include Biometrics, Secure Credentialing and Enterprise Access solutions, as well as Enrollment and Government Consulting services. With the trust and confidence in individual identities provided by L-1, international governments, federal and state agencies, law enforcement and commercial businesses can better guard the public against global terrorism, crime and identity theft fostered by fraudulent identity. L-1 Identity Solutions has more than 2,200 employees worldwide and is headquartered in Stamford, CT. For more information, visit www.L1ID.com. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this press release and those made from time to time by L-1 Identity Solutions through its senior management are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current views based on management's beliefs and assumptions and information currently available. Forward-looking statements concerning future plans or results are necessarily only estimates, and actual results could differ materially from expectations. Certain factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, among other things, availability of government funding for L-1's products and solutions, the unpredictable nature of working with federal, state and local government customers, and general economic and political conditions. Additional risks and uncertainties are described in the Securities and Exchange Commission filings of the Company, including the Company`s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and the Company`s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. L-1 Identity Solutions expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements. ID-S L-1 Identity Solutions Doni Fordyce, 203-504-1109 dfordyce@L1ID.com Copyright Business Wire 2009
Published 18 December 2009
The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team wanted to replace the 20-pound rugged laptop plus fingerprint scanner their hostage rescue teams lug around with a smaller and lighter device; NIST researchers develop one
The FBI Hostage Rescue Team had a problem — they needed a small, portable tool to identify fingerprints and faces, but could not get anyone interested in building a solution for such a limited market. So they came to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The FBI told NIST they wanted something more portable than the 20-pound rugged laptop plus fingerprint scanner their hostage rescue teams lug around to aid in their anti-terrorism efforts, and this led to NIST developing a new application for a handheld touch-screen device.
The original task given to NIST by the FBI was simply to design and compile the requirements for the software the FBI needed to run on their platform of choice: a handheld device with a touch screen about the size of an index card. Paring down the visual interface to a mini-screen requires detailed understanding of what functionalities are most important. NIST researchers Mary Theofanos, Brian Stanton, Yee-Yin Choong and Ross Micheals brainstormed with the FBI team about what they required and, more importantly, watched them doing their work since most people can demonstrate what they need far better than they can articulate it.
The research paid off. Despite having worked closely with the NIST team, even the FBI Hostage Rescue Team was surprised at how well the ultimate design matched their needs: a small tool that could take pictures of fingerprints or faces and send the data wirelessly to a central hub for analysis, all with a minimum of touch strokes.
Theofanos, Stanton and Choong wanted to take the program further. Smart phones with touch screen devices were becoming available — could they scale their design down even more to fit a 2-inch x 3-inch screen? The team created a demo program for just such an available screen — and it scaled beautifully.
The NIST team already had been collaborating with other security agencies on something called Mobile ID, a method to help officers identify people quickly and easily on the scene, instead of taking people back to headquarters to be fingerprinted. The NIST researchers think this demo program might just be the solution. The next step is to integrate an actual finger print sensor into the demo program.
Would you be willing to undergo an airport "full body scan"?
Full-body scans top priority
Transport Canada studies ways to tighten airport security screening
This file photo shows a person hiding a knife behind his back while standing in the security scan which uses millimetre wave technology at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. The airport has been using the scanners on a test basis since 2007. Schiphol will begin using full-body scanners within three weeks to check people travelling to the United States, the Dutch interior minister said December 30, 2009.
REUTERS/SCHIPHOL AIRPORT/HANDOUTTransport Canada is actively examining ways to implement full-body scanners at airports, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
"We are working with CATSA (the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority) to implement various screening techniques and millimetre-wave technology is one of them," said Maryse Durett.
One of the airports used by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day, announced Wednesday it's rushing to get more full-body scanners working.
Amsterdam's Schiphol airport will move its 15 full-body scanners to handle flights to the United States "within three weeks time," Dutch Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst said at a news conference in The Hague.
And Nigeria, homeland of 23-year-old Abdulmutallab, hopes to have full-body scanners in place by early next year, said Harold Demuren, chief of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
Full-body scanners would have helped intercept Abdulmutallab, who was on a flight from Schiphol to Detroit when he tried to set off explosives at his seat, ter Horst said. "It is not exaggerating to say the world has escaped a disaster."
Abdulmutallab, who arrived in Amsterdam on Friday from Lagos, Nigeria, on a KLM flight, passed through a metal detector and a hand baggage scan at Schiphol, apparently carrying 80 grams of explosives sewn in his underwear.
Use of the 15 scanners at Schiphol has been limited because of privacy objections in the European Union and U.S. that the 3-D images display the contours of the passenger's body, including genitals.
But the scanners have new software that don't need a human operator, said airport security chief Ad Rutten. "The computer looks at the picture and can analyze the picture. By taking out the human interface, we think the (European) Parliament will approve the body scan."
Transport Canada's Durett said "Canada will make its own decision" on the scanners based on its own trials in 2008 in Kelowna, B.C., and won't be hurried by other governments.
"We're interested in all technology that would help," said Scott Armstrong, spokesperson for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority. "Full-body scanners are part of that."
At Manchester Airport in Britain, where the scanners have been used on trial since October, 92 per cent of those surveyed after Christmas said it was a "positive experience," a spokesman said, an increase from 70 to 80 per cent last month.
"They are not naked images," the spokesman said. "It's more like a ghost-like outline."
Alarm over what body features the scanners might reveal has kept their use voluntary in the EU and the United States. Nineteen U.S. airports use them on a voluntary basis.
But the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, which runs airport checkpoints, said Tuesday it intends to buy 300 advanced imagers next year – double its October order.
A first: UND offers degree program in UAV piloting
Published 5 January 2010
The number of unmanned aircraft systems has jumped from a fleet
of about 50 vehicles nine years ago to more than 2,400 in use today; these UAVs
need trained operators to operate them, and the University of North Dakota
offers the first-in-the-U.S. degree program in UAV piloting
Predator UAV // Image credit: everyjoe.com
The UAV market is exhibiting all the characteristics of a maturing market.
There are four steps to this maturation process: first, innovative start-ups and
entrepreneurs dominate the sector; in the second phase, the big guys move in,
buying up smaller companies; in the third phase there is litigation over
intellectual property infringement; in the fourth phase, colleges and
universities begin to offer degrees in the field.
In evidence: The University of North Dakota is offering the world’s first
bachelor’s degree for pilots who will never leave the ground. Discovery news’s
Irene klotz reports
that these pilots are not afraid of flying. There is just less of a need to be
airborne with the rapid growth of so-called unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs.
“College students like to be employable when they graduate,” said Jeffrey
Kappenman, director of the school’s Unmanned Aircraft Center. “This market is a
growing market.”
A shift in military strategies is behind the explosive growth of UAVs,
bolstering an industry which, by some estimates, will blossom to about $20
billion over the next decade. “The intelligence requirements today are much
different than in the Cold War days where we were looking for Soviet armament
columns,” Kappenman told Discovery News. “The requirements for (combat) in Iran
and Afghanistan are to have these UAVs flying non-stop to support our troops on
the ground.”
Just because there is no one aboard UAVs does not mean they do no’t need
pilots. “You’re going to have to approach the missions the same way, with the
same coordination as far as airspace, weather, weight and balance. You’ll still
be doing all the pilot activity. The only difference is that you won’t
physically be aboard the vehicle and take off from the ground,”
Kappenman said.
To help meet the demand for UAV operators and pilots, the University of North
Dakota has set up a four-year undergraduate major and enrolled its first twelve
students. There already is talk of a graduate program as well. “Primarily the
market is still military, but a lot of that is shifting over time. It’s going to
be a huge market going out into the future,” Kappenman said.
Marion Blakey, head of the Aerospace Industries Association trade group, says
the number of unmanned aircraft systems has jumped from a fleet of about 50
vehicles nine years ago to more than 2,400 in use today. Civil and commercial
UAV applications include monitoring hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes and other
natural disasters, search and rescue, and eventually cargo delivery and
other services.
One of the major issues facing UAV operators is how to integrate the systems
into the airspace shared by passenger-carrying jets and other vehicles. “There
are test areas where they can operate, but it’s a challenge for the
manufacturers,” AIA spokeswoman Alexis Allen told Discovery News.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working to integrate UAVs into
the country’s airspace, particularly as the agency transitions from
radar-tracking systems in use today to the satellite-based Next Generation Air
Transportation System under development.
Implant Sciences offers a solution for would-be underwear
bombers
A first: UND offers degree program in UAV piloting
Published 5 January 2010
The number of unmanned aircraft systems has jumped from a fleet of about 50 vehicles nine years ago to more than 2,400 in use today; these UAVs need trained operators to operate them, and the University of North Dakota offers the first-in-the-U.S. degree program in UAV piloting
Predator UAV // Image credit: everyjoe.com
The UAV market is exhibiting all the characteristics of a maturing market. There are four steps to this maturation process: first, innovative start-ups and entrepreneurs dominate the sector; in the second phase, the big guys move in, buying up smaller companies; in the third phase there is litigation over intellectual property infringement; in the fourth phase, colleges and universities begin to offer degrees in the field.
In evidence: The University of North Dakota is offering the world’s first bachelor’s degree for pilots who will never leave the ground. Discovery news’s Irene klotz reports that these pilots are not afraid of flying. There is just less of a need to be airborne with the rapid growth of so-called unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. “College students like to be employable when they graduate,” said Jeffrey Kappenman, director of the school’s Unmanned Aircraft Center. “This market is a growing market.”
A shift in military strategies is behind the explosive growth of UAVs, bolstering an industry which, by some estimates, will blossom to about $20 billion over the next decade. “The intelligence requirements today are much different than in the Cold War days where we were looking for Soviet armament columns,” Kappenman told Discovery News. “The requirements for (combat) in Iran and Afghanistan are to have these UAVs flying non-stop to support our troops on the ground.”
Just because there is no one aboard UAVs does not mean they do no’t need pilots. “You’re going to have to approach the missions the same way, with the same coordination as far as airspace, weather, weight and balance. You’ll still be doing all the pilot activity. The only difference is that you won’t physically be aboard the vehicle and take off from the ground,” Kappenman said.
To help meet the demand for UAV operators and pilots, the University of North Dakota has set up a four-year undergraduate major and enrolled its first twelve students. There already is talk of a graduate program as well. “Primarily the market is still military, but a lot of that is shifting over time. It’s going to be a huge market going out into the future,” Kappenman said.
Marion Blakey, head of the Aerospace Industries Association trade group, says the number of unmanned aircraft systems has jumped from a fleet of about 50 vehicles nine years ago to more than 2,400 in use today. Civil and commercial UAV applications include monitoring hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes and other natural disasters, search and rescue, and eventually cargo delivery and other services.
One of the major issues facing UAV operators is how to integrate the systems into the airspace shared by passenger-carrying jets and other vehicles. “There are test areas where they can operate, but it’s a challenge for the manufacturers,” AIA spokeswoman Alexis Allen told Discovery News.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working to integrate UAVs into the country’s airspace, particularly as the agency transitions from radar-tracking systems in use today to the satellite-based Next Generation Air Transportation System under development.
Published 5 January 2010
The failed attempt to bring down Northwest flight #253 on Christmas Day only highlights the opportunities explosive detection equipment manufacturers have to sell their gear to worried airport security authorities; Implant Science emphasizes the competitive advantages of its hand-held sniffer
Quantum Sniffer // Image credit: Implant Sciences
Implant Sciences Corporation, a high technology supplier of systems and sensors for homeland security markets, opened the new year by announcing new initiatives to target the U.S. market in aviation security for its products and technologies, based, the company says, on recent events and the company’s international successes in transportation and aviation security.
In the wake of the attempted terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight on 25 December, the Obama administration has announced the need for a review of air travel security including explosives detection technologies. Implant Sciences’s Quantum Sniffer QS-H150 Portable Explosives Detection system is currently used in transportation and aviation security applications around the world. The company says the QS-H150 can detect a multitude of explosive compounds, including PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate), the substance allegedly used in the attempt to bomb Northwest flight #253 on Christmas Day. Of particular note, the Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) have successfully deployed several hundreds of these systems for use at the Beijing Olympics and in airport security, checkpoint and package screening, and Air Marshall applications.
Glenn Bolduc, company CEO, commented, “Our technology is currently being used around the world by screeners and Air Marshals and we are working diligently to protect even more people closer to home.”
Implant Sciences is currently in discussion with DHS and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on initiatives to address threats from IEDs (improvised explosive devices) utilizing its handheld detection system. Your Defense News reports that in early 2009 the company submitted its QS-300 system to the TSA for testing by the Transportation Security Laboratory (TSL), in connection with the requirements of the Air Cargo Screening Act of 2007. This law mandates that 100 percent of air cargo on passenger aircraft be screened by August of 2010. The company has also been working with one of the largest freight forwarders in the world, and the freight forwarding industry in general, to position its technology for use by the private sector in its efforts to comply with this mandate.
Bolduc concluded, “Our handheld explosive trace detection system provides a necessary and valuable solution to the current threats against the aviation system in the United States. We are working with both the federal and private sector to gain visibility and traction for our technology in the domestic marketplace.”
The company says that the QS-H150 offers compelling technical, operational, and competitive advantages. Among the most significant are non-contact sample collection; non-radioactive ionization; simultaneous detection and identification of explosives particulate and vapor; continuous self-calibration; and ultra-fast clear down (cycle time). The substance library of the QS-H150 is the broadest in the industry and includes not only standard military and commercial explosives, but also homemade explosives (HME) such as those used in the recent attempt. The library is also easily expanded as new threats emerge. These advantages offer an extremely versatile solution for Transportation Security, and can be rapidly deployed to greatly increase the number of items screened, effectively becoming a force multiplier.
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