Counter-Terrorism

US Army training per the Maneuver Captain's Career Course focuses intensively on how to generate company level maneuver including Assembly Areas, phase lines, targets, routes, breach points, etc. One aspect that is used to (theoretically) control a company's movement was the FLOT or forward line of troops. Sixteen years later this concept has developed to account for our growing fleet of robots, autonomous platforms, and...

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By Andrew Winkler, Thunderbolt Solutions The use of UxVs (aka Drones) is growing exponentially. Their value is undeniable. For many applications, a formation or group of drones is warranted and can provide unparalleled value and moves towards valueSQUARED. Today's market is platform centric. More capability means more payload which drives the hard choice between bigger platform or less endurance. Bigger platforms mean more complex operations and regulatory...

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BlueforceMOBILE Command Kit enables emergency communications, adaptive edge ICS services, and inter-agency coordination at the incident scene NEWBURYPORT, Mass., March 29, 2023 (Newswire.com) - A senior leader at an "NFL city" police department recently shared that a major mass casualty event had 1000+ first responders swarm a hastily formed command post proximate to the scene, which was largely relying on butcher paper duct-taped to a wall for...

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WASHINGTON, March 22, 2023 – Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Inc., has announced new partnerships to provide powerful mission critical communications and productivity solutions for the national security, public safety and enterprise markets. Airbus is partnering with Blueforce Development Corp., Common Objects, Catalyst Communications Technologies, Inc., and Exacom to provide a complete and best-in-class solution for customers using the Airbus Agnet MCx (Mission Critical Push to...

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During complex emergencies, such as natural disasters, civil unrest, or mass migration, radio communication is often a critical tool for coordinating response efforts, providing information to affected populations, and maintaining public safety. During large or complex incidents, radio traffic can become congested due to high demand, making it difficult for incident command to transmit and receive messages effectively. As well, given the crush of responding...

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The Incident Command System (ICS) is a standardized, on-scene, all-hazards incident management concept. It was developed in the 1970s by firefighting agencies in the United States as a means of effectively managing incidents involving multiple agencies and organizations. The ICS provides a common structure and terminology for incident management and is designed to be scalable, so that it can be used for incidents ranging from...

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Incidents and the subsequent emergency responses can be chaotic, especially when they involve multiple agencies and organizations that need to work together to respond to the crisis. In such situations, there may be confusion about roles and responsibilities, communication breakdowns, and a lack of coordination. Shortly after 9/11, the U.S. government commissioned programs that ultimately led to the National Incident Management (NIMS) framework which defines...

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After Action Reports (AAR) may be one of the most important tools in emergency management and counter-terrorism operations. When used as a critical component of an agency's tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP), AAR's can be an important litmus test which questions our assumptions about threats, which ultimately impacts training, mitigation, and response. Blueforce was used extensively over the entire Macys Thanksgiving Day parade route and...

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Unattended ground sensors from multiple manufacturers, fused and normalized for sensor cueing to minimize false positives and accelerate detection time Today's unattended ground sensors (UGS) consist of various sensor technologies that are tightly integrated to deploy and perform the given task such as target detection, location, and recognition. These ground sensors are generally small, robust, and can be considered "disposable" in many cases given their low...

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Force protection (FP) is a multi-dimensional pursuit, incorporating many operational concepts including prescribed personnel TTPs and multiple technology areas. The scope of facility-based FP spans a wide spectrum of activities directed toward the protection and management of personnel, assets, facilities and real property, crossing multiple functional, organizational and security domains. Security, surveillance, and intrusion detection are integrated into force protection, but their resources and infrastructure...

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