Smiths Detection to Showcase Mobile, High-Energy Cargo Screening System That Inspects Loaded Trucks and Containers

PINE BROOK, N.J.-- Dec. 15, 2004 -- Smiths Detection, the world’s leading provider of X-ray and trace detection systems, said it will showcase a high-energy mobile cargo screening system, called HCV-Mobile, that can scan more than 25 loaded trucks and containers per hour. Beginning in January 2005, the system will be tested and exhibited in select U.S. ports and evaluation centers.

The 3.8 MEV system combines mobility, radiation detection capabilities and high-energy X-rays that can penetrate more than 10.5 inches of steel. The HCV-Mobile generates high-resolution images of a container’s contents and is designed to assists in the identification of conventional explosives, weapons and contraband such as illegal drugs. It also assists in the recognition of radiological dispersion devices (dirty bombs) and other nuclear weapons or materials.

Smiths Detection introduced the industry’s first high-energy, mobile cargo screening system in 2000. The company said its second-generation system, the HCV-Mobile, incorporates a number of improvements based on actual field usage and is lighter, smaller and more powerful than the first-generation system and can detect the presence of Gamma energy.

"With more than a decade’s experience in designing screening solutions for trucks and containers, we are confident that the HCV-Mobile represents a significant step forward in detection capability" said Bret Bader, Vice President, Smiths Detection North America. "With its combination of high energy, mobility and automated radiation detection, the HCV-Mobile will demonstrate its effectiveness screening containers for multiple threats and contraband"

The Company said the system was deployed in Greece during the Athens Summer Olympics and that it is currently operating at several key international ports. Its mobile capabilities enable it to be deployed to any location and quickly moved within a port to screen suspicious containers. The HCV-Mobile can travel on conventional roads at speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour and can be set up in less than 30 minutes.

About Smiths Detection

Smiths Detection North America, based in New Jersey, is part of Smiths Detection, which is one of four operating divisions of Smiths Group plc. Smiths Detection offers technologically advanced security solutions to detect and identify explosives, chemical and biological agents, weapons, and contraband, plus specialist applications for life sciences and food manufacturing industries. Employing trace detection technology together with Smiths-Heimann x-ray imaging, Smiths Detection provides security solutions for customers in homeland security and defense markets worldwide. For more information visit: www.smithsdetection.com.

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Susan Cooper

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Smiths Detection

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