AI X-Ray Screening Gains Urgency After Airport Shooting

On July 7, 2025, a gunman opened fire near McAllen International Airport in Texas, ambushing Border Patrol agents and injuring several officers before being neutralized. The incident, which forced temporary flight delays, is the latest reminder that airports remain prime targets for unpredictable and fast-moving attacks. While perimeter patrols and armed response are essential, many threats are first stopped not at the curbside, but at the checkpoint.

For airport security professionals, the challenge is stark: how to screen thousands of bags per hour with speed and accuracy, without missing concealed weapons or overwhelming operators with false alarms. Traditional X-ray systems are robust, but increasingly outpaced by both passenger volumes and evolving threat profiles. This is where artificial intelligence is beginning to transform screening operations.

Smiths Detection, one of the sector’s established leaders, has introduced open-architecture systems like the HI-SCAN 6040 2-is, which can integrate third-party AI algorithms through a European-standard API. Leidos, another global player, has advanced computed tomography (CT) and X-ray platforms now being trialed with AI enhancements to detect complex explosives and firearms. And Neural Guard, a newer entrant, has developed EyeFox—an AI overlay that can be retrofitted onto existing scanners to boost detection performance.

Neural Guard’s EyeFox is designed as a second pair of eyes for checkpoint staff. Instead of replacing hardware, it integrates directly with installed X-ray systems and analyzes images in real time. Using convolutional neural networks trained on large, curated datasets, the software can highlight knives, guns, explosives, and other prohibited items—even when obscured by clutter, low contrast, or overlapping objects.

AI X-Ray Screening. Image credit: Neural Guard

The system’s biggest advantage is speed: EyeFox can issue alerts in under a second, reducing the lag between bag scan and operator action. It also cuts down on false positives, easing the cognitive load for security staff working under intense pressure. As the software continues to learn from new threat image data, its recognition capabilities evolve, providing a scalable defense that adapts to emerging risks.

For airports under constant pressure to do more with less, such AI-enabled tools could become indispensable. Incidents like the McAllen shooting underline the urgency. While no single technology can prevent every attack, smarter X-ray screening backed by AI promises to make the most vulnerable point in aviation security—the checkpoint—faster, sharper, and harder to breach.