Month: August 2022

LAM LHA Adds Scott Mulligan in U. S. Office

Security consulting specialists, LAM LHA, has announced Scott Mulligan has joined as a director in their U. S. office. Mulligan brings more than 20 years of experience in the homeland security sector, most recently serving as an assistant administrator with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA). 

Mulligan’s background as a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) executive “gives him unique insight into the role of technologies, processes and people in security and how each can be used to drive impactful change,” the company says.

Boat Capsizes Leaving Haitian Migrants Dead

At Least 17 Haitian migrants heading for the United States died when their boat capsized. The incident happened off the coast of the Bahama Islands on Sunday, July 31.

Bahamamian defense forces were called when witnesses observed the situation in the early morning hours. “Rescue teams recovered 17 — sadly — 17 bodies from the water,” Prime Minister Philip Davis, said. He added 25 people were rescued from the water.

Leidos to Acquire Cobham Aviation Services Australia’s Special Mission Business

Leidos has entered into a definitive agreement with Cobham Limited to acquire Cobham Aviation Services Australia’s Special Mission business. The Special Mission business provides airborne border surveillance and search and rescue services to the Australian Federal Government. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

“Cobham’s Special Mission team conducts essential operations that protect Australia’s borders, support law enforcement and environmental protection and save lives,” said Roger Krone, Leidos chairman and CEO. “The integration of Special Mission into Leidos Australia will expand the scope of our global airborne ISR capabilities, diversify revenues, and open up new growth avenues.”

“I have the greatest respect and admiration for Cobham’s Special Mission team and their performance in service to the Government,” said Paul Chase, Leidos Australia chief executive. “The addition of the Special Mission business will bring new, expansive services to our offerings across Australia. I look forward to working with this exceptional team.”

“This is a perfect match,” said Kim Gillis, Cobham Aviation Services chairman. “Leidos has remarkably complementary operations to Cobham Special Mission in airborne ISR, as well as deep platform integration expertise, and both organisations uphold exceptional track records of delivering mission critical services to government and defence customers.”

“I’d like to recognize and thank all of the Special Mission team for their continued dedication and commitment to delivering operational outcomes for our customers,” added James Woodhams, managing director of Special Mission. “I’m really excited about what the future holds for the team as part of Leidos.”

Cobham Special Mission owns and operates 14 modified aircraft to deliver critical services across Australia, including:

  • Conducting one of the world’s largest outsourced civil maritime surveillance operations under contract with the Australian Border Force, patrolling Australia’s 8.2 million square kilometre Exclusive Economic Zone;
  • Providing fixed wing search-and-rescue response capability over land and sea on behalf of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA); and
  • Operating a highly specialised mission aircrew training system for more than 30 mission aircrew per year.

Koniku and Airbus Expand Partnership to Re-imagine Aviation Security

Koniku and Airbus Americas have announced the expansion and deepening of their collaboration, which began in 2017, to advance aviation safety and security from curbside to gate for billions of travelers globally.

Koniku has created “smell cyborgs” that detect a range of compounds in the air in real-time, empowering Airbus to design a touchless and seamless traveler experience. The 24-month collaboration marks a pivotal milestone in the companies’ joint go-to-market strategy. The Konikore by Airbus solution will enable a seamless travel experience from curbside to gate while expanding safety beyond traditional areas and enhancing existing security measures.

Airbus joins the Koniku Technology Integrator Ecosystem (KTIE) to build on Koniku’s proprietary wetware technology stack. The Konikore smell cyborg weighs less than 600 grams and embeds engineered living biological neurons capable of reading the air and detecting volatile organic compounds—replicating the function of a dog’s nose. The technology is IoT enabled, streams data to the cloud, and provides numerous functionalities, including reporting, a machine learning backend, and more.

Beyond security, Konikore™ is applicable in the areas of health, diagnostics, manufacturing, food safety, industrial and other verticals. Notably and beyond explosives, the Konikore™ can detect drugs like amphetamines, fentanyl, and hundreds of other compounds. Over time, the smell cyborg will be adjusted to detect contrabands, viruses and pathogens. When a respective molecular compound comes in contact with the Konikore™ an alarm is triggered. So through the rapid development of a Minimum Viable Product, Airbus Americas will provide a real-time explosive detection solution that uses Konikore™.

“We’re delighted to expand our partnership with a ‘best in class’ market leader like Airbus. The Airbus leadership team, including Airbus Corporate Security, has repeatedly reinforced to Koniku the paramount importance of passenger security, safety, and positive experience on the ground and at 30,000 feet,” said Osh. Agabi, Koniku Inc.’s CEO. “We feel excited about bringing such revolutionary technology into the real world.”

“This collaboration will allow Airbus to explore the development of advanced biotechnology solutions capable of revolutionizing aviation and airport security, for the benefit of both passengers and aviation transportation security officials,” said Jeff Knittel, Airbus Americas chairman, and CEO.

This collaboration will leverage Airbus’ engineering capabilities across the U.S. In particular, MTM Robotics, a fully-owned Airbus subsidiary, will develop and prototype software-hardware integration solutions at their headquarters in Mukilteo, Washington.

This partnership is the latest phase in an ongoing cooperation agreement between Koniku and Airbus, which began in 2017. Koniku and Airbus have performed multiple successful tests and performance validations in partnership with local and federal law enforcement agencies and airport security operations. This collaboration marks a pivotal milestone in the companies’ joint go-to-market strategy.

Koniku opens partnership applications for additional partners into the company’s technology integrator ecosystem next month. Koniku is recently coming off a funding round with Presight Capital, SoftBank, IDO Investments, Platform Capital, Andon Okapi Holdings (Oman), and Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment Company. They join existing investors, including IndieBio SOSV, IT Farm, and Airbus Ventures.