L-3 Communications [LLL] Security & Detection Systems has acquired Detector Networks International (DNI), a small designer and developer of radiation detection solutions, including an integrated system that passively screens cargo containers during transshipments.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed although L-3 says it is immaterial financially.
Under a $23 million contract awarded in early 2009, DNI has been designing, developing and building several Radiation Detection Straddle Carriers (RDSC) for the Energy Department’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (TR2, Jan. 7, 2009). The straddle carriers are equipped with radiation detection sensors to scan cargo during transshipments.
One of the RDSCs is already operational at a seaport in the Bahamas and another is completing final testing for operations at a port in Jamaica.
The acquisition gives L-3 more than just a product in the radiation detection space, it gives the company its own set of organic design and development capabilities in this space to go with its X-Ray systems used for screening cargo, Paul Simpson, director of Cargo Solutions at L-3 Security and Detection Systems, tells TR2.
Simpson says that L-3’s customers are looking for solutions that can integrate X-Ray and radiation detection systems, which each currently operate as standalone entities in ports, taking up real estate and additional manpower.
L-3’s cargo inspection platforms include mobile, gantry and portal solutions.
DNI’s technology isn’t the straddle carrier, which is just the platform, it’s the integration and detection technology that can be integrated as part of a solution, Simpson says. That will enable L-3 to offer more integrated and capable solutions in the future, he says.
L-3 has worked with radiation detection systems in the past that have been supplied by other companies but now it can design these capabilities into its solutions, Simpson says.
DNI’s management will be staying with the company. DNI has about 20 employees.