QinetiQ subsidiary Foster-Miller Inc, has been awarded a $1 million contract to further develop its advanced Boat Trap system by the United States Department of Defense Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, working closely with the US Coast Guard. Designed to bolster US harbor security and protect coastal military bases abroad, Boat Trap is a non lethal, ballistic net that is deployed from a helicopter into the path of a threatening speedboat traveling at high speed. It is designed to entangle the propeller, causing the craft to immediately stop. Port security and ship protection has become a central issue in the war on terror and recent assessments of US port security has highlighted the risk from terrorists' using speed boats as a mode of attack.