MORRISTOWN, N.J., Sept. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. airlines in Europe have started using Smiths Detection's portable trace detection systems at boarding gates for U.S.-bound flights.
The company said its IONSCAN 500DT and Multi-Mode Threat Detector -- one a desktop device and the other hand-held -- provide particle and vapor analysis by using Ion Mobility Spectrometry technology, detecting both explosives and narcotics from a single, easily gathered sample.
Rugged design and portability enable the systems to be readily taken from gate to gate at boarding areas.
"We are pleased to help U.S. air carriers make air travel as safe as humanly possible and these orders are a great example of how the airlines are working with the security industry to intelligently expand layers of security through a variety of technologies," said Mark Laustra, Smiths' vice president of Homeland Security.
The identities of the carriers weren't disclosed for security reasons.
Smiths Detection, with major manufacturing plants in eight U.S. states, said it also supplies industry-leading X-ray inspection systems, bottle liquid scanners and other threat screening technology to about 80 percent of the world's airports.
