Boeing successfully tests giant border alarm tower

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Boeing, the managing project integrator for the US government's gargantuan Secure Border Initiative, says it has run a satisfactory test on the first sensor tower to be deployed as part of the so-called "SBInet" program.

The first tower is to be used for a security project called "Project 28", a 28-mile cordon near Nogales and Sasabe. According to Boeing materials, Project 28 will "[d]eliver the ability to detect entries into the U.S. when they occur; identify what the entry is; and eventually classify its level of threat (who they are, what they are doing, how many, etc.); allowing Border Patrol to effectively and efficiently respond to the entry, and; resolve the situation with appropriate law enforcement."

The SBInet towers themselves stand nearly 100 feet tall and area equipped with a variety of sensor mechanisms, including radar, and numerous wireless communication technologies. SBInet projects also involve wireless links to patrol vehicles, including satellite telephony. An initial government order for nine of the towers to be placed along the southwestern US/Mexico border is scheduled for delivery and installation by June 1.

In the past five and a half years the US has added thousands of Border Patrol agents to payrolls and spent well over $10 billion on border security personnel and equipment.

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