(February 20, 2023)
AS&E devised a product to complement the machines it made for airports and seaports. It placed a low-powered X-ray machine on the back of a Ford Motor Co. chassis. The U.S. military used the mobile scanner to detect improvised explosive devices during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the company said. Domestic law enforcement could disguise the vehicle as a delivery van and use it to scan cars in, say, a stadium parking lot.
The X-ray van, called the ZBV, made its debut in 2003. Michael Tropeano, general manager of AS&E’s cargo-scanning division, said he thought the product would be a winner from day one.