QINETIQ pitched its latest advance in airport security at an international conference in Athens this week.

The Malvern company launched its first commercial demonstrator of security screening apparatus at AvSec World 2003, which brought leading figures in the aviation security world to Greece.

The QinetiQ imager, based on millimetre wave technology, has been designed to detect hidden weapons, including explosives, and a prototype has already been deployed in Britain.

The commercial product has been developed and improved on the back of the practical experience gained through the trials.

The apparatus can see through clothes to what may be concealed underneath, without the need to search each individual person. Operators are provided with a high-resolution, real time image which they can react to.

QinetiQ's director of security Jeremy Attree said: "This launch is a significant development in the fight against terrorism. I can foresee millimetre wave technology becoming to people what X-ray is now to baggage screening."

Apart from the obvious use in airport security, where the smuggling of weapons on to planes is a real fear, QinetiQ believes the equipment has a wider use in other public buildings, secure areas and for VIP protection.

Millimetre wave technology which has already yielded one high-profile product for QinetiQ.

Borderwatch is used by HM Immigration Service and Eurotunnel to detect people trying to enter the country by hiding in the back of lorries. Operators can see through the sides of lorries to what may be concealed inside, a quick and efficient way of conducting a search.

The system has also been taken up in France and other European ports and has detected several thousand illegal immigrants as they try to cross borders.