A pilot plan to screen traveler airplane cargo for explosives will be launched later this summer at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).The Air Cargo Explosives Detection Pilot course, the effort will be conducted at SFO air cargo services under a collaboration between DHS’s Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate plus Transportation Security Administration (TSA).


The $30 million cargo explosives show pilot course will later be delayed to two other as yet unannounced – U.S. airports. The objective of the course is to value better the technical and operational issues related with explosives detection for air cargo. This work will provide critical information to help in making future decisions on the national air cargo security communications, as well as support in the research and growth planning to hold air cargo safety.

Additional agencies involved in the SFO pilot course will be the airport, air carriers, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the New Jersey-based Transportation Security Laboratory.

With the amount of air cargo undergoing screening due to rise substantially, the scientists will seek a better understanding of the economic impact of these changes on the air carriers and how they do business.The pilot course will focus on developing concept of operations for screening air cargo. Those concepts will be evaluated and checked to see whether they can be improved for use at other airports.


Work done in combination with the Transportation Security Laboratory will, in part, focus on developing a list of Work done in combination with the Transportation Security Laboratory will, in part, focus on developing a list of suitable screening techniques for different commodities and types of air cargo. The program will use currently offered commercial technology for screening air cargo. It is expected new ideas will be generated for where the department should invest its R&D resources to improve the technology.for different commodities and types of air cargo. The program will use currently offered commercial technology for screening air cargo. It is expected new ideas will be generated for where the department should invest its R&D resources to improve the technology.

To advance the field, the DHS is already funding the growth of new screening technologies for explosives, such as advanced X-ray systems that can screen entire pallets at once. Among the systems or techniques now used for baggage screening that will also be deployed at SFO for cargo screening are Explosive Detection Systems, Explosive Trace Detectors, and standard X-ray machines, as well as canine teams and manual inspections.

Data collected through this course will allow the research team to check the accuracy of computer models that will simulate the air cargo screening process at SFO, and can then be expanded to the entire airport and other airports.


The S&T Countermeasures Test Beds program provides DHS with an independent and objective testing capability. This program provides information about scientific, economic and operational issues associated with deploying technologies. Additionally, the program provides data to decision-makers as to which technologies are suitable for different missions.