Raytheon tests border security system
Apr 20, 2006 3:00 PM
A high-tech system to guard the southern U.S. border, known as Project Athena, has been successfully tested by Raytheon Co. The Athena command and sensor network was used for six weeks to support Border Patrol and Customs operations with surveillance and "actionable intelligence" in the Rio Grande sector. The system provides remote sensors along with command, control, communications and intelligence capabilities to monitor the border and allow agencies to focus their resources rather than rely on random patrols.
Raytheon reports Athena was part of a Department of Homeland Security campaign called Operation Gulfview, which was focused on the eastern Texas sector that includes 120 miles of land border, 160 miles of coast and nine ports of entry between the United States and Mexico. The infrastructure included 200 miles of secure wireless network, integrated ground-air surveillance sensors and enhanced C2 (communications and computing) data processing. Raytheon describes the system architecture as similar to the NORAD air-defense system, which monitors large numbers of targets, although Athena is focused more on maritime surveillance and showed particular success during Gulfview monitoring potential smugglers operating around South Padre Island.
"Results included identifying previously unknown activity, focusing enforcement efforts instead of arbitrarily patrolling areas and tracking vessels that crossed the U.S.-Mexican border," Raytheon says.
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