Raytheon wins $4.3 million contract for on-dock rail nuclear detectors

Tewksbury, MA-based Raytheon Company reports that it has won a $4.3 million contract from DHS to develop next-generation panels that can scan rail cars to detect nuclear weapons and other materials.

The company calls the new panels an additional configuration in its Advanced Spectroscopic portfolio, a series of panels that can be used in various ways to screen cars, trucks, cargo containers, and now rail cars at seaports, border crossings and airports.

Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems is developing the panels for the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office within DHS.

After a cargo container at a seaport has been loaded onto an 18-wheel flatbed truck or onto a rail car, the truck or car will pass between two of the new panels to be scanned for illicit materials.

The panels will be tested this summer in Tacoma, WA, says Raytheon.