Officials at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, have offered the base as a semi-permanent test site for the Idaho Explosives Detection System, developed by the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory to detect explosives hidden in vehicles. The system uses neutron generators to “interrogate” a vehicle and cause transported materials to emit gamma rays whose explosive signatures can be identified and relayed to a laptop computer within 300 seconds. IEDS program manager Jeff Klinger says the system at Wright-Patt is “quick, inexpensive, and reliable.”
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.