Innovation In The Sun
It’s billed as an opportunity for the Department of Defense and other government agencies, law enforcement personnel and first responders to “observe and become familiar with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) force protection equipment.” To a first-timer, it seems like a strange combination of a trade show and a picnic.
The sixth Force Protection Equipment Demonstration (FPED VI) at Stafford, Va., Regional Airport near Washington D.C. is more than anything irrefutable, sun-drenched proof of the impressive capabilities of technology to protect.
The outside location — stretched along an airport taxiway — included tent after tent (after tent) of everything from armored and utility vehicles to entry control systems to communications equipment to explosive detection equipment to physical security equipment. More than 575 vendors displayed more than 3,000 items, many using the outside location to show off how equipment operates. After hours, there were night-vision equipment demonstrations.
It was a rich bounty of technology choices … right there in the glaring August sun.
