Liquid bomb scanner on trial at London airports
Gatwick and Heathrow airports are trialling a new scanner that can check the liquid contents on bottles for bomb ingredients without opening them.
The Cobalt Light System, being trialled in 63 airports across Europe and Australia, may eventually lead to the end of a ban on airline passengers carrying liquids over 100ml in their hand luggage.
The ban came into force in 2006 after authorities foiled a terror plot to use liquid explosives to blow up aircraft travelling from Heathrow to the US and Canada.
It is believed the European Commission wants to lift the ban by January 2016 by using technology to screen all liquids, lotions, powders and gels, reports the Daily Mail.
Cobalt says its Insight100 ‘allows liquids to be screened through a wide-range of non-metallic containers in just five seconds’.
It can screen containers as small as 10ml or up to 3 litres.
"As well as detecting the threat, the Insight100 also identifies the specific threat material by name," it said.
"The system has an exceptionally high detection performance coupled with an ultra-low false alarm rate."
It says its system will help reduce the cost of extra security measures, such as extra security staff, confiscations and missed and delayed flights.
Diane
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