Links
L-3 Communications of Pinellas gets $165 million contract for body scanners
A defense contractor that builds body-imaging scanners at a St. Petersburg plant is positioned to sell Uncle Sam hundreds of machines for U.S. airports after the Christmas bomb scare on a Northwest Airlines flight approaching Detroit.
The Transportation Security Administration last week awarded a contract to L-3 Communications to buy up to $165 million worth of its ProVision scanners. The devices scan air travelers' bodies and generate X-ray-like images that can reveal weapons hidden under clothes.
Security experts, members of Congress and travel industry groups have called for stepping up deployment of the machines since a 23-year-old Nigerian man hid an explosive and other components in his underwear and smuggled them onto the plane.