American Science and Engineering receives $23 million order for SmartCheck inspection systems

AS&E's SmartCheck

American Science and Engineering, Inc., of Billerica, MA, a supplier of X-ray detection technology, announced on July 22 its receipt of a $23 million order for a government agency for a significant quantity of SmartCheck Personnel Screening Systems. The systems will be deployed in a rugged environment and will provide security officials with a fast, reliable and safe way to screen people for a wide variety of threats.

In a press release issued on July 22, the company did not disclose the specific government customer nor the quantity of units procured.

“This sizable order demonstrates the versatility and value of Z Backscatter technology for critical counterterrorism missions,” said Anthony Fabiano, President and CEO. “Designed for personnel inspection at high-risk checkpoints, the SmartCheck system provides rapid detection of explosives threats and contraband hidden on a person’s body. With Z Backscatter technology, the SmartCheck system is designed to combat evolving security threats by imaging the widest range of contraband concealed on a person.”

SmartCheck provides security officials with a safe, non-intrusive means to detect both organic and inorganic threats hidden on a person, said the AS&E press release. Z Backscatter technology gives the operator easy-to-interpret information about where threats are hidden, thus eliminating the need for intrusive and time-consuming pat-down searches.

Since the SmartCheck system uses Z Backscatter X-ray technology, it is safe for both operators and scanned individuals, says the company. A scanned person receives about the same amount of radiation as a person flying for two minutes at an altitude of 30,000 feet, or less than 10 microrem (0.1 microsieverts) per scan. SmartCheck meets the manufacturer's requirements of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard N43.17, which is the standard that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) references for these systems.