Terrorism is arguably one of the biggest threats currently ravaging
many parts of the world. Virtually all the continents – Africa, Asia, Australia,
Europe, North and South America, contend with various levels of terror threat,
especially with the trend in lone wolf terrorism. Data
from the third edition of the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2015 report collated
by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to
Terrorism (START) says Boko Haram and ISIS are the world’s deadliest terrorist
organizations.
Domiciled in Nigeria, Boko Haram is said to be responsible for
6,644 deaths in 2014, while ISIS or the Islamic State which controls swathes of
territory in Syria and Iraq is believed to have killed about 6,073 people in
the same period. From all indications, indiscriminate terrorist attacks, bloodletting
by ISIS, Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, Alqaeda, their affiliates and sympathizers
scattered across the world may not abate anytime soon.
As we know, terrorists bask on element of surprise, unpredictability
and imparting fear on the populace. One of their stock-in-trade, is suicide
bombings which they often carry out employing improvised explosive devices (IEDs),
explosive vests, belts amongst others. Governments all over the world, defense
technology firms, national security agencies, security experts and other stakeholders
continue to brainstorm on how to nip pervading terrorism and the phenomenon of
suicide bombings in the bud. The most important question that begs for answer
is: how to pre-empt and detect a terrorist who is carries not just a gun but
concealed improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or an explosive vests/belts which
more often than not, are not visible to the naked eye? This is where cutting-edge
technology comes in.
Rapiscan Systems'
headquartered in Torrance, California, the United States seem to have a
solution to the aforementioned security challenge. Rapiscan’s CounterBomber® gadget
is designed to protect high value assets against prospective suicide bombers. It
is Ideal for premises - military and civilian facilities - stadiums, airports,
rail stations, checkpoints, hospitals and schools. CounterBomber® is a reliable, fully mobile,
boasts of fixed-based tracking system that combines radar and video technology
to automatically detect concealed person-borne threats such as suicide vests
and weapons, in real-time, at stand-off distances and wirelessly transmits
pictures or live video of the threat to a remote handheld device. According to
Rapiscan, the detection time to identify an approaching threat is within 3 to 5
seconds.
With this advanced technology, terrorists carrying concealed IEDs,
explosive vests or belts, weapons such as rifles, handguns, machine pistols can
be quickly detected before they gain access to hard or soft targets, places
with a high concentration of people such as stadiums, airports, subways, train
stations, schools and concert venues (the recent Paris attacks is a case in
point. By promptly detecting a terrorist with a suicide vest or other concealed
weapons, security departments or personnel now have an opportunity to quickly mitigate
such threats before personnel or critical infrastructure are harmed.
CounterBomber® is rugged, highly accurate (high Pd,
Low Pfa), intuitive and easy to use. Another plus is that unlike other
products, CounterBomber® is safe to use as it does not involve
imaging and has been extensively trialled and fielded by the United States
Armed Forces and successfully deployed operationally across the globe since
2007 in urban, suburban, and rural environments with proven success.
For
more information, visit Rapiscan Systems' website. Please remember to cite
this blog post.
Rapiscan CounterBomber® will surely play a leading
role in containing vestiges of Boko Haram suicide bombings in Nigeria and
terrorism in other parts of the world.
Product
review by:
Don Okereke
November, 2015
Follow Don on Twitter:
@DonOkereke
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Bio:
Don Okereke is a passionate, innovative, Information Technology, Social
Media-Savvy and proven Security Analyst/Consultant, researcher, writer/blogger,
and change agent with over 17 years combined Military (Air Force),
Private/Industrial Security, entrepreneurial, management skills/experience
distilled from Nigeria and the United kingdom. Don loves entrepreneurship and
is the Founder/CEO of Forenovate Technologies Limited (RC 755695). His interest and expertise span Security/Safety/ICT/Cultural
Awareness Training, Threat/Travel Advisory, Risk Assessments & mitigation, Security
survey/mapping, Loss/Fraud Prevention, Due Diligence and Investigations, Executive/Asset Protection, Business
Continuity & Emergency Planning, Background Screening/Vetting, Competitive Intelligence, Research and Open-Source
Intelligence (OSINT) Information Retrieval, Countering Violent Extremism Advocacy
and Public Speaking, amongst others. Don has featured on conferences/seminars
as a Guest Speaker and he is routinely consulted by foreign, local,
print/electronic organizations for his expert opinion on issues impinging
national, personal security and geopolitics. His passion, knack for writing has
seen his articles published on major Nigerian newspapers such The Guardian, The
Nation, NewsWatch, Tell Magazine and various reputable local and foreign social
media/online platforms. Don’s loves humanity; disappointed with the rampaging
insecurity, terrorism and insurgency in Nigeria, he took it upon himself to
champion an Advocacy Cause against vestiges of insecurity under the aegis of ‘’Nigerians
Unite Against Insecurity and Terrorism’’ and ‘’Say No To
Terrorism and Insurgency’’.
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