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Stafford defense contractors' "smart rocks" are already spying on insurgents in the Middle East. Soon that local company, McQ, may be making sensors to help the Department of Homeland Security stop illegal immigrants and narcotics traffickers Date published: 4/7/2007
By MICHAEL ZITZ Despite what some politicians say, a "Great Wall of China" between the U.S. and Mexico would probably be too expensive--and it might not work, anyway. And deploying large numbers of National Guardsmen and/or soldiers to line up along our borders simply isn't feasible, because the military is already stretched thin. At the behest of the Department of Homeland Security, McQ, a 50-employee Stafford County defense contractor, is contributing to the development a high-tech border protection system that might not require thousands of miles of costly solid fences or walls. Michael J. Pitts, director of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program Office DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine, said yesterday that a high-tech "virtual wall" is being developed that may check the flow of illegal aliens--including drug smugglers and potential terrorists. Unmanned aircraft systems like the Global Hawk and Predators A and B are already being used to watch the Mexican and Canadian borders, the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida coastline, Pitts said. Drones like the Predator B are being equipped with sophisticated technology that includes cutting-edge radar systems and cameras that will work in tandem with unattended ground sensors, creating a "virtual wall" that could soon help stop those crossing our borders illegally. The unmanned aircraft will carry Raytheon's MTS-A EI/OR electro-optical infrared imaging system and Sandia National Laboratories/General Atomics' Lynx high-resolution synthetic-aperture radar and put that to use after being alerted by ground sensors. DHS is currently reaching out to small companies like McQ for new ideas to make the system work. In March, Jay M. Cohen, DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology, announced the selection of 22 small businesses for contracts. As part of the department's Small Business Innovation Research program McQ received $100,000 for Phase I, which ends this fall, and will involve looking at ways its iScout sensor might be adapted to protect the border. Phase II would involve up to $750,000, for development of a prototype. The iScout is a small, low- cost, unattended ground sensor McQ had previously developed for the Army.
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