The Department of Defense (DOD) leveraged an existing contract agreement with BioFire Defense LLC, to develop a rapid response diagnostic test capability to detect novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The test will be developed for use on the BioFire® FilmArray® instrument, which is used to diagnose infectious diseases in order to aid in treatment of service members.
FLIR Systems Inc. announced the launch of the FLIR Ranger® HDC MR, a new high-definition midrange surveillance system. The Ranger HDC MR has the ability to detect illegal activities even in degraded weather conditions, utilizing embedded analytics and image processing to reduce the cognitive workload, enabling operators to distinguish quickly between true threats and false alarms.
In order to help prevent the spread of travel-related cases of coronavirus in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf issued a Notice of Arrival Restrictions outlining the process for American citizens, legal permanent residents, and their immediate families who are returning home after recently visiting certain European countries, China, and Iran.
A diagnostic test for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – designed for use in a diagnostic system that can process up to 1,000 tests in 24 hours – will receive advanced development support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR).
Every day, human and drug traffickers, smugglers, criminals, and terrorists attempt to enter the U.S. through one of 328 ports of entry. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has implemented face comparison and ID validation verification technologies to drastically reduce the number of people that require direct screening by CBP officers.
As part of the government-wide efforts to respond to the global outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services intends to purchase 500 million N95 respirators over the next 18 months for the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS).
FLIR Systems Inc. announced that the United States Air Force has ordered more than 180 of the company’s Centaur™ unmanned ground vehicles (UGV), plus spares. Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams will use the FLIR Centaur to assist in disarming improvised explosive devices (IEDs), unexploded ordnance, and similar hazardous tasks.
Longer fire seasons and expansion of communities into wildfire prone areas has led to an increased risk to life and property in the wildland urban interface (WUI). A national address point database could potentially be of value to incident commanders and emergency managers during wildfire evacuations by allowing for more precise mapping and evacuation modeling/zones, and improved information sharing.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service has changed the criteria that trigger a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) warning about an imminent flash flood. Flash flood warnings now have damage threat tags, so WEAs will be issued for only the most life-threatening flood events.
BAE Systems has received funding from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office to develop advanced analytics technology that will assist in the detection and deterrence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) activity, helping to ensure national security.
