UK companies target SA 2010 Soccer World Cup at defense show

The UK is seeking to sell a high tech piece of security equipment that monitors crowd behaviour for the 2010 Soccer World Cup to be played in South Africa. The equipment called ‘The Monitor’ which when put into a stadium can remotely monitor human behaviour and alert police to a potential security threat, Adam Thomas of the UK’s trade, industry, defence and security organisation (UKTI) was quoted in the South African press. He said the UK was aware that SA was looking all over the world for defence and security equipment and that the UK, which has already run a successful European championship as well as having been awarded the 2012 Olympics, had a role to play “and would like to share these mechanisms with SA”, said Thomas. He also said the UK would use SA’s Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition, to woo South African companies to look at investment possibilities in the security and defence industry in the country, possibly extending to joint ventures. Thomas said during a preview day of the exhibition yesterday that his organisation was aware of the improvement “on a daily basis” of SA’s defence industry and that it needed an export market. Thomas said that in addition to ‘The Monitor’, the UK’s security industry could also offer unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, the best body armour in the world for protection, mechanisms to detect activities from vans, cameras that could “do things quickly”, and a vehicle jointly developed with Gencor which could be used as a police or security vehicle. “We could offer a range of stuff, not necessarily high-tech. What we would like to do is use companies in SA, in partnerships with UK companies, which together could supply equipment for 2010,” said Thomas.