18 January 2003

Orders approaching $3M received for Smiths IONSCAN®

France, Italy, Belgium and Greece airports enhance security

18 December 2002 - Warren, NJ - A contract was recently awarded to Smiths Detection for deployment of the IONSCAN® trace explosives detectors from Aéroport de Paris. The systems will be installed at Roissy's Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports to enhance existing security measures. This is the first deployment of trace detectors at airports in France, and comes after a thorough comparison of equipment available in the market. Laboratory and field-testing, maintenance and support capabilities were part of the comparison. Deployments of the systems are currently taking place.

Additional contracts were also awarded to Smiths Detection for deployments of IONSCAN® 's at Brussels International Airport in Belgium, Venizelos Airport in Athens, Greece, and at 15 airports in Italy. These follow recent orders for IONSCAN®s from aviation security agencies in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands.

"Aviation security will continue to be an important issue for airlines, airports and the traveling public. The IONSCAN has proven itself as an integral part of security measures not only in aviation security, but also for the military, law enforcement, and for government applications", commented Dr. John Ferrie, Group Managing Director of Smiths Aerospace.

About the IONSCAN® 400B

The IONSCAN® 400B provides the capability of detecting trace amounts of more than 40 explosives and narcotic substances in a quick 6 - 8 second analysis. The IONSCAN® uses Ion Mobility Spectrometry technology and has the longest Mean Time Between Failure of any trace detector in the field. The systems in this order will join the thousands of IONSCAN®s already deployed at numerous highly traveled airports, as part of an ongoing effort to enhance aviation security.