EADS Unveils ELLIPSE System to Detect Snipers Miles Away

One of the hardest aspects of Secrete Service or any other service that protects VIP's in today's society is combating snipers. Snipers can be over a mile away and current technology depends on using acoustics produced only after the sniper has fired the trigger. A new laser surveillance technology developed by Britain is hoping to change all of this to provide detection of snipers before they even think about pulling the trigger.

The European aerospace group EADS has developed a system that can spot snipers by bouncing light off the snipers scope. The device looks a lot like a speed radar on a tripod but this device called the ELLIPSE unit, sweeps zones with a laser beam. The computer system then analyzes any light that is reflected back to the unit to determine if it was a sniper scope, a camera lens, or some other similar object.

"We aim to use a sniper's technology against him," said Talbot-Jones, who served with British forces in Afghanistan.