Explosives detection technology.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.
• Position: Security Beat - Brief Article

The U.S. Navy recently signed a $36 million multi-year contract to buy 1,400 units of a new hand-held explosive detectors. The systems would be used aboard ships and at naval installations.

The 7-pound device, called Vapor Tracer, is made by Ion Track, in Wilmington, Mass. Paul Eisenbraun, a company vice president, said the technology is based on a so-called "mobility spectrometer." A suspect substance is pumped into the vapor detector, to get ionized, positive or negatively charged, he explained. The system...