A new technology being installed at airports nationwide will soon allow travelers to keep their laptops, as well as 3-1-1-sized liquids, in their bag during checkpoint screening. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) awarded a $96.8 million contract for 300 Computed Tomography (CT) systems to be installed at airports across the country over the next five years.
The system is similar to the CT technology used in the medical field, creating 3-D images through sophisticated algorithms in order to improve screening capabilities. “These state-of-the-art 3-D scanners will enable our screening officers to detect explosives and other threats to commercial aviation with unprecedented precision,” said TSA administrator David Pekoske.
TSA began piloting the technology in two airports is 2017, before placing 10 units in various airports for comprehensive field testing in 2018. Installation of the recently procured systems will begin this summer, and is expected to be completed sometime in 2020.
This CT purchase supports the larger modernization efforts of the agency and would not be possible without the support of Congress, especially the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Homeland Security, as well as our appropriations committees,” said Pekoske.
“The nation’s transportation systems are now better off – more secure, as a result of their work on funding this technology,” he added. The Port Authority announced a host of new amenities available at all four commercial airports
