Stealth Detection Of Illicit Laboratories

In today's asymmetric warfare, the battle against terrorism has become a primary concern. One of the key problems that are currently faced is the difficulty to properly defend against the illicit production of materials that can be used as terrorist threats, especially those that are easy to produce from readily accessible constituents. The same applies to a major cause of concern that is related to terrorist groups' sizeable activities involving the production of various drugs, such as Methamphetamine. The production of such illegitimate drugs represents an important source of funding for the terrorist groups and has become a growing worldwide problem.

The clandestine production of illicit materials in private and protected facilities cannot be easily accessed and dismantled. However, the production of these dangerous goods requires a number of precursors and solvents that can possible be detected and identified with infrared hyperspectral imagers. This leads to the breakthrough possibility of performing stealth and remote detection of illicit laboratories. This new capability is thus believed to be a key asset to help win the war against terrorism.