Bomb scanner firms still awaiting orders Newark's InVision is one of two firms cleared to sell airport detectors, but it can't ramp up until units are ordered
contracostatimes.com
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By Ellen Lee
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
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NEWARK -- On the four-month anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee called on the federal government to purchase enough scanners to screen all checked baggage for explosives or face missing the Dec. 31, 2002 deadline.
Standing in the idle manufacturing floor of InVision, one of two firms certified by the Federal Aviation Administration to produce explosive-detection systems, Inslee, D-Wash., said that the federal government has yet to order any machines since Congress passed an ambitious airport security bill in November.
"We need to get off the dime and get these machines to the airports," said Inslee, one of the bill's co-authors. Inslee added an amendment requiring all checked baggage be scanned for bombs by the end of the year.
For passengers traveling after Sept. 11, the security changes made thus far have been evident. Fatigue-wearing National Guard troops keep watch in major airport terminals. Security screeners have opened up and sifted through passenger bags in random searches.
But the Jan. 18 deadline looms to implement interim measures, such as bomb-sniffing dogs, to screen all checked luggage for explosives. By Dec. 31, all checked bags must be screened through explosive-detection systems.
That could prove challenging, to say the least.
Newark-based InVision and L-3 Communications Holdings in New York are the only two firms certified by the FAA to produce the machines.
InVision Chief Executive Sergio Magistri said Friday that the company is prepared to increase production once it receives the requests. It already has about 160 machines deployed in U.S. airports, including San Francisco International Airport and San Jose International Airport.
Already, the company has doubled its available workspace by clearing a storage area in its Newark facilities. It has begun hiring for what is expected to be a three-shift, seven-days-a-week, 24-hours-a-day production schedule. And it has contacted manufacturers that could produce additional machines if necessary.
InVision, which also develops systems for such countries as Chile and Sweden, currently produces about 10 machines a month, selling them for between $700,000 and $1.5 million apiece. But executives said Friday that it could manufacture about 50 a month with the proposed schedule, taking between two and three months from the initial order to roll out a finished product.
"Once we move ahead with the plan, we will move like a Swiss clock," said Magistri.
An airport typically spends between one and nine months to install a machine, depending on its size, once it is made, Magistri said. The scanners use CAT-scan technology to examine luggage at multiple angles for bombs.
But before the process begins, the federal government, under the newly established Transportation Security Agency, must start the ball rolling, Inslee said.
"We can't afford to let this ball drop," he said.
More than 2,000 explosive-detection systems are needed for 419 airports to meet the deadline, according to the FAA. Besides InVision and L-3 Communications Holdings, several other companies, such as Santa Clara's Ancore, have been developing machines to detect explosives.
President Bush signed a bill allocating $1.25 billion to improve airport security in mid-December. On Thursday, he signed a bill that provides another $108 million to purchase and install the explosive-detection systems and $200 million to help airports remodel and make room for additional machines.
Ellen Lee covers technology and Tri-Valley businesses. She can be reached at 925-847-2125 or elee@cctimes.com. |
