Marlborough company Block MEMS has received a $1.7 million contract from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction for a system to detect trace quantities of drugs and chemicals in parcels in the United States.
Under the contract, the company will develop a fieldable prototype trace chemical detector able to detect trace chemicals while parcels are traveling on a conveyor belt at operational speed. The chemicals to be targeted include fentanyl, explosives and chemical warfare agents.
The culmination of this program will be a system to be tested at a government facility.
According to Block, this contract leverages another detection project the company already has with the U.S. Air Force.
