US. airport perimeter security market in decline.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin
• Position: Homeland Security News

* U.S. airport perimeter manufacturers--makers of fences, gates, sensors and cameras--will likely face a steep drop in demand over the next several years, one report found.

In 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration awarded airports $58 million in grants to improve safety, but a decline is expected through 2017, said John Hernandez, an aerospace defense senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, a Mountain View, Calif-based market consulting firm.

Demand for airport perimeter systems and barriers skyrocketed after 9/11, Hernandez said. Between 2001 and 2011, they garnered nearly $650 million. But funding is expected to taper off as demand weakens, Hernandez said.

"You will see some stagnation and a decline [in the market]," said Hernandez. "It will never go up to the point it went up to after 9/11."

Hernandez does not foresee any major airports being built soon, and most work needed at existing airports will be limited to small repairs or refurbishing. Contracts to repair most perimeter control measures will be limited to local vendors.

In 2012, nearly $69 million was invested in airport perimeter-security measures. By 2017, that number will drop to an estimated $47.5 million per year, the study found.

While the outlook for the fencing-and-gate side of the market appears grim, the security enhancement sector--which includes cameras and sensors--looks rosier, he said.

Because of inevitable human error and vulnerabilities within the technology, even the most sophisticated systems may not catch everything, Hernandez said.

"You can't have guys vigilant 24 hours a day," he said.

He pointed to a major 2012 airport-perimeter security breach in which a distressed Jet Skier swam three miles from his disabled watercraft in Jamaica Bay and came ashore in front of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. He then climbed a fence and crossed two runways all without the $100 million perimeter intrusion detection system spotting him. He was arrested after flagging down an airport worker.

Hernandez hypothesized that the man may have been wearing a wet suit, which could have masked his heat signature, thus throwing off the expensive system.

Robots may be one way to better detect intruders, Hernandez said. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned ground vehicles to patrol the perimeter and identify threats, or at least sense that something is amiss, would be invaluable. UAVs and UGVs don't get tired and keep going 24 hours a day...