"We cannot fight 21st century technologies with 19th century technologies," said Dr. Bogdan Maglich, chairman and CEO of HiEnergy Technologies Inc.

Until now all the technologies that have been marshaled to detect car bombs have been based on electromagnetic radiation--X-Rays, radars, metal detectors and the like--which are 19th century technologies. The obvious advantages of using nuclear particles in explosives and biological detection over classical methods were overlooked--that is, until HiEnergy demonstrated their potential.

It is HiEnergy's stoichiometric diagnostic device that can effectively decipher chemical formulas of unknown substances through metal or other barriers, almost instantly, and without human intervention. The company's products incorporate a proprietary interrogation process that activates a selected target with neutrons causing the contents to emit back gamma rays that contain unique signatures from which the chemical formulas are derived. HiEnergy's first commercial product, the SIEGMA 3E3, is unique in that it can detect and confirm whether an object or container carries a select group of dangerous or illicit substances--such as explosives, biological agents, and illicit drugs, with a probability of detection equal to approximately 97.75%, and "false negative" and "false positive" rates of as low as 2.25%.

The finder head will be attached to a long robotic arm mounted in the Smartruck that will be able to go under, on the side of, or above the car trunk. HiEnergy has been able to demonstrate that for car bombs that are at least 30 kg, at a distance of 18 inches from the finder head, the detector is able to make a decision in approximately 16 seconds.