InVision Technologies Receives $13.4M Contract to Develop Vehicle-Based Landmine Detection Product.

Business Editors

NEWARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 12, 2000

Largest Contract in Quantum Magnetics' History

InVision Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: INVN) today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Quantum Magnetics (Quantum) has received a $13.4M contract from the U.S. Army to develop a vehicle-based mine detection system for clearing roads of landmines. This is the largest contract ever awarded to Quantum.

The three year contract is part of the Army's Ground Standoff Minefield Detection Systems (GSTAMIDS) program and will fund the Program Definition and Risk Reduction (PDRR) phase of the GSTAMIDS Block 1 acquisition program by developing Quadrupole Resonance (QR) sensors for both Confirmation and Primary Scanning roles. The work funded under this new contract dovetails with the recently received and announced $2.6M of funding from the U.S. Army and the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA).

"This contract marks the successful transition of our landmine detection program from DARPA to the Armed Services who will ultimately benefit from the technology. This represents a watershed event in our Corporate diversification strategy," said Dr. Sergio Magistri, president and chief executive officer of InVision.

Under this contract, Quantum will develop, fabricate and test QR sensors and supporting electronics mounted on Government provided vehicles. Periodically throughout the contract, field tests will be conducted at Government test ranges to measure the system's performance against the Technical Objectives of the GSTAMIDS mission.

In anticipation of this contract, Quantum recently augmented its management team with the appointment of Dr. Christopher Hawkins as Vice President of Research and Development. Dr. Hawkins, formerly with TRW, brings a wealth of technical expertise and experience in managing large, technology programs from the initial R&D phases through to deployment to the field.

Quantum began development of its QR-based land mine detection technology in April of 1997 when it received its initial three-year DARPA contract. With the additional $13.4 million contract just received, total funding of Quantum's landmine detection system development now exceeds $26 million.

To date, remarkable success has been made against the extremely challenging task of landmine detection. Previously announced field trials in December of 1999 marked the first ever demonstration of the detection of TNT-filled landmines in the field using QR. Tested against both TNT and RDX-filled landmines. The Quantum detection system detected 100% of antipersonnel and antitank landmines with no false alarms. This is the first time in history that plastic, low-metal-content landmines have been detected with this level of performance by any system in actual field conditions.

The Quantum system is based on quadrupole resonance (QR), which applies a radio-frequency magnetic-field pulse at a frequency specific to individual explosive compounds. Unlike other technologies, which do not detect the mine's explosive charge, QR can serve as both a primary and confirmation sensor, enabling the system to resolve its own false alarms.

Current QR systems detect metal, RDX, TNT and Composition B (Composition B is a 60/40 mixture of RDX and TNT), and are thus able to detect the vast majority of all landmines deployed throughout the world. Initial research, conducted by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), regarding the ability of QR to detect Tetryl indicates that there are no significant obstacles preventing QR from being developed for Tetryl detection as well. Tetryl is the explosive found in the majority of the small fraction of mines that don't include either TNT or RDX.

Quantum Magnetics, acquired by InVision Technologies in September 1997, develops and commercializes patented and proprietary technologies, including key QR patents licensed from the Naval Research Laboratory, that are based on a state-of-the-art, low-cost version of magnetic resonance adapted for explosive detection. InVision develops, manufactures, markets and supports systems based on advanced Computed Tomography (CT) technology for explosive detection systems for civil aviation security, for log scanning for the wood products industry and for drug detection applications.

Today, more than 180 FAA-certified CTX 5000 series systems are deployed worldwide to provide the traveling public with the best security against terrorism available. InVision is based in Newark, California. Additional information about the company can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.invision-tech.com.

Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release may contain forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks inherent to the development of new products and new applications; risks inherent in obtaining government funding and government research and development contracts; risks inherent with the timely development of products and the acceptance and pricing of new products; and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's SEC reports, including the most recent reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K.