ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Sikorsky Aircraft, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (UTC) unveiled the first of two S-97 RAIDER™ helicopter prototypes, signaling the start of activities in the program’s test flight phase and a major step toward demonstrating the new – and first – armed reconnaissance rotorcraft featuring X2™ Technology designed for military missions. “Today, Sikorsky unveiled the next generation of military rotorcraft, with capabilities and performance never seen before in our industry,” said Sikorsky President Mick Maurer. “Just four years ago, we announced plans to build the S-97 RAIDER and teamed with some of the best companies in the industry, understanding the need to ensure aircraft development would not falter as government defense budgets shrank in response to economic pressures. Sikorsky is proud of its leadership in this area, and of the leadership the S-97 RAIDER represents among the world’s military rotorcraft,” he added. Based on Sikorsky’s rigid X2™ rotor coaxial design, the S-...

Smiths Detection introduced its next-generation explosives trace detector for use in global aviation and infrastructure security. Its small, portable design, combined with ease-of-use, reduces the cost and time of screening for a range of high-threat explosives. The technology behind the IONSCAN 600 easily surpasses that of its previous version, the industry-leading IONSCAN 500DT used widely around the world -- from airport checkpoints to mail screening. Its breakthrough feature is a proprietary non-radioactive Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) source which eliminates the need for special licensing, handling or disposal requirements. The IONSCAN 600 also weighs just 23 pounds (10.4 kg) and is equipped with a built-in handle making it easy to carry. Its hot-swappable battery provides continued sampling and analysis capability, allowing it to be moved while still in use. Low cost, single-use test swabs dramatically reduce operator costs. Shan Hood, Vice President, Product and Technology, S...

Professor warns of "humanitarian catastrophe" Image Credits: niaid, Flickr by Paul Joseph Watson One of the scientists who discovered Ebola fears the virus could mutate and cause many more people to become infected, an “apocalyptic scenario” that threatens to cause a “humanitarian catastrophe,” according to Professor Peter Piot. Professor Piot was part of a team of scientists that first discovered the Ebola virus in 1976 after analyzing a blood sample from a Belgian nun who fell ill in Zaire. In an interview with the Guardian , Piot agreed that the more people who become infected with Ebola, the greater chance of the virus mutating. “Yes, that really is the apocalyptic scenario,” said Piot. “Humans are actually just an accidental host for the virus, and not a good one. From the perspective of a virus, it isn’t desirable for its host, within which the pathogen hopes to multiply, to die so quickly. It would be much better for the virus to allow us to stay alive longer.” Warn...

Feds are avoiding their own disease protocols, says emergency responder Image Credits: Newport Geographic (Background), Vinicius Munhoz (Symbol) by Kit Daniels The numerous violations of disease protocol surrounding the Dallas, Texas Ebola case are intentional, according to an emergency response manager. The manager, who was involved in the emergency response to both Hurricane Katrina and Rita in addition to planning for small pox outbreaks, said the official response to the first diagnosed case of Ebola in the United States purposely avoided the basic actions the government would take to prevent a virus from spreading. “The reason I know the Ebola outbreak is being conducted on purpose is because it violates all protocol,” he said. The violations of protocol are almost too numerous to mention. For one thing, government officials were slow to decontaminate the apartment of Thomas Eric Duncan, the 40-year-old Liberian national who was the first diagnosed case of Ebola in the U.S. Be...

The EU’s chief criminal intelligence agency made a disconcerting revelation, the threat of “online murder” is set to rise. It isn’t a science movie trailer, but the finding that cyber criminals increasingly targeting victims with internet technology that could cause “ injury and possible deaths ” by hacking critical safety equipment. According to the European Police Office (Europol) the rapid diffusion of the paradigm of the ‘ Internet of Everything ’ (IoE) is stressing the dependency of human activities from a large number of devices always connected to the Internet and with significant computational capability. “The IoE represents a whole new attack vector that we believe criminals will already be looking for ways to exploit,” according to the Europol threat assessment . “The IoE is inevitable. We must expect a rapidly growing number of devices to be rendered ‘smart’ and thence to become interconnected. Unfortunately, we feel that it is equally inevitable that many of these devices w...

New York City quickly announced it would get rid of devices that could turn phone booths into cellphone trackers after the program was revealed this morning. A Buzzfeed investigation published today found that the city allowed 500 radio transmitters, called “beacons,” to be installed in pay phone booths, apparently thickly concentrated in lower and mid-Manhattan. A few hours later, the Mayor’s office said they would have them removed . Though they could be woven into a location-aware advertising network, the beacons are there for maintenance notifications only and are not yet being used for commercial purposes, according to Titan, the firm that runs the advertising displays for thousands of city phone booths. There was no public announcement when the devices were installed. Titan uses beacons made by a company called Gimbal, which connect with phones and have the ability to send notifications – for instance, a store might use them to alert customers to discounts – and to collect data...