L-3 Communications [LLL] has nabbed several contract wins in the market for cargo and container scanning systems dating back to last year after watching its business for high-energy non-intrusive inspection (NII) systems dry up the past few years, a company official says.
Last year the company won a yet-to-be-announced contract with Dutch customs to supply its CX Portal X-Ray scanning systems for use at the Port of Rotterdam, Bill Frain, senior vice president with L-3’s Security & Detection Systems division, tells HSR. Currently L-3 is finalizing terms and conditions and delivery requirements for several contracts with customers in the Middle East for CX Portals and the CX-Mobile G3, which is the company’s latest cargo screening solution, he says.
Going forward Frain says opportunities remain in Europe and the Middle East for L-3 to sell its high-energy NII systems. He’s also hoping that in the U.S., Customs and Border Protection (CBP) gets back into the game for high-energy systems after focusing its purchases on low-energy systems to screen vehicles and trucks entering, and sometime, exiting the U.S.
CBP didn’t request funding for NII systems in FY ’13 but is asking Congress for $112.5 million for inspection and detection technology in FY ‘14. Frain said he’s hoping the agency will be in the market for the company’s CX-Mobile G3 next year.
L-3 introduced the redesigned G3 late last year to bolster its cargo screening product line and offer a product based on customer feedback the past three years. The mobile system is able to operate in “some space limited” environments, has a tighter turning radius, is lightweight, ergonomic workspace, is cost-effective, a customizable interior, and the driver of the hauling cargo can remain in the cab during scanning, Frain says. The system also incorporates L-3’s ClearView imaging system that integrates data from multiple X-Ray systems and sensors into a single interface.
Despite softness in the domestic and international market for high-energy cargo inspection systems of late, Frain says there remains demand for these systems at ports and borders. These are still “very vulnerable” areas “from a threat perspective” and given “our discussions with potential customers and existing customers and working with CBP, there still is a threat that is out there,” he says. “So we do see the demand and the need and it’s a decent size market” even if it is lumpy.
Nearly two years ago L-3 entered into the radiation detection product space with a small acquisition of a development company called Detector Networks International (DNI), which among other things was developing a detection system for integration on straddle carriers to be able to passively screen cargo containers during transshipments (HSR, Nov. 9, 2011). Frain says the acquisition was compatible for L-3’s cargo screening products as well as checked baggage screening at airports and conventional X-Ray systems.
“We’re in the process of combining the products together and the technologies and we are starting to see some near-term traction,” Frain says, noting that these advancements are still in the development stage. Still, “we are seeing a lot of the specifications coming out of the ports require radiation detection,” he says, referring to cargo security solutions that integrate X-Ray and radiation detection into a single piece of equipment.
Currently X-Ray and similar detection systems are separate from radiation portal monitors.