Improving airport security with chemical detection

The horrific attack that took place in Moscow Airport in January this year, killing 35 people and injuring 110, is a clear indication that terrorists are using sophisticated approaches to avoid detection in airports. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev acknowledged this, calling the attack a ‘clear security breach’.

Innovations in airport security would allow security services to stay one step ahead of a likely attack. Current measures in place in airports usually mean lengthy delays before you get the gate. If queues at the check-in are not the problem, the airport scanners undoubtedly are. Metal detectors, x-ray machines and full-body scanners, are measures to ensure safe air travel.  Unfortunately, in rare but significant cases, these measures prove not to be enough.

One of the ways to combat terrorist attempts is to implement procedures to identify what a suspect material is, in order to prevent attacks and recognise chemical agents before their release. Chemical detection can be a crucial step in airport security.

Kromek, a British SME and winner of the ‘Best Security SME’ category in the 2009 Global Security Challenge, have made significant contributions to this market with breakthrough technologies including their bottle scanning verifier and identifier. The Global Security Challenge recognised that this innovation was one of the best it its field and Kromek has been extremely successful since 2009. In Autumn 2010, its liquid scanner machines were approved for use in airports throughout the EU.

Kromek’s product can review a bottle of any shape, size and composition between 80ml and 2000ml and can recognize in less than 30 seconds whether a suspect liquid poses a serious threat to the people or to the aeroplane on which it is carried.

Even in freight, some startling statistics indicate that only 3-4% of cargo on passenger planes was screened worldwide in 2008, yet chemical compositions can be so advanced as to avoid detection. The odourless and volatile pentaerythritol tetranitrate, better know as PETN, was discovered on cargo planes in October 2010, despite initial searches from explosives detection equipment and sniffer dogs not discovering any threat.

As Professor David Menachof, an expert in supply chain security at Hull University Business School said, “Britain and other countries remain vulnerable to terrorists switching their focus to cargo planes... It is a widely held belief within the aviation sector that freight is the weak link in the aviation security regime.”

The Global Security Challenge aims to recognise and support innovative security solutions for problems such as chemical detection. Whether you are a person with an innovative concept, a recent start-up company, part of a researched project at university of an established SME, The Global Security Challenge accepts solutions from all walks of life.

Entries are currently being accepted for the 6th Annual Global Security Challenge.