X-ray Vehicle Inspection System

steep GmbH will be supplying the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, with a so-called X-ray vehicle inspection system for operations in Mali. The agreement was signed on 8 July 2022 with the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw).

This means that the Bundeswehr will receive a mobile system that has been designed for UN deployments in Mali and can be applied to verify the safety of vehicles as large as trucks. On the initiative of the Bundeswehr Operations Command and in response to the urgent need for field equipment, the final draft of the agreement awaiting signature was approved by the BAAINBw within just one week – and this in spite of the prevailing global challenges impacting supply chains and price trends. The system can now be deployed faster for the greater safety of the deployed soldiers.

The X-ray vehicle inspection system can scan entire vehicles up to about 4.50 metres in height. It consists of three commercial Eagle^® M60 vehicle scanners made by Rapiscan. Objects can be detected and identified through steel walls up to 30 centimetres thick. Also the smallest of wires, indicating a possible IED, do not escape detection. The scanner can distinguish between the colours of organic and inorganic substances, and so can detect e.g. explosives with greater accuracy.

While the vehicle is being scanned, the drivers, in a radiation-proof environment, can be examined for objects hidden about their person and in their hand luggage, and biometric identifiers captured and processed like fingerprints and iris scans. The equipment used for these purposes includes e.g. a metal detector portal, an X-ray luggage scanner as well as a millimetre-wave scanner (also known at German airports as a “strip scanner”).

The mobile system is installed in air-conditioned 20′ containers and can be shipped generally by land, air or sea. One system consists of the X-ray inspection truck and a separate control unit (container) where personnel can safely monitor the inspection up to 500 metres away. The system is completed with a server container.