Who makes airport security and border systems

How to read this directory

Each company below is described the same way. We give what it supplies, its headquarters country, its ownership type and a few deployments named on its own pages or in trade press. We do not rank firms or judge their products. The facts are as of 19 October 2026. Where a fact is older, we give its date ^1,24,32.

The list is not exhaustive. Many smaller firms, national champions and local integrators work in this field. A company's place on this page is not an endorsement, and a company's absence says nothing about it. Contract figures come from the press releases or articles cited. They are the amounts announced at the time and may differ from what was finally paid ^13,22,37.

Ownership in this sector changes often. Three large deals took place or were announced between April 2024 and October 2026. They are listed in a separate section below ^4,633.

Main product categories

Border and aviation security buyers tend to purchase in a few broad categories. One firm may sell in several of them. The categories below match how suppliers describe their own product lines ^3,12,19,32.

• Passenger data systems. Software that lets a government collect Advance Passenger Information (API), interactive API and Passenger Name Record (PNR) data from airlines, check it and send back board or do-not-board messages ^3,26.
• Biometric matching. Software that compares a face or fingerprint with stored records or watch lists, for border, visa and citizenship checks ³⁵.
• eGates and kiosks. Automated gates and self-service machines that read a passport chip, capture a face or fingerprint and compare the two ^10,13,39.
• Identity documents. Systems to enrol citizens and produce and personalise ePassports and ID cards ^19,37.
• Security screening. CT scanners for cabin bags, hold baggage systems, body scanners, cargo scanners and explosives trace detectors ^16,22,34.
• Travel authorisation and e-visa platforms. Online systems where travellers apply for permission to travel before departure ²⁶.
• Integration and common-use systems. Large IT programmes that join border databases, and shared check-in and gate systems used by many airlines at one airport ^1,729.

Suppliers at a glance

The table lists each firm in alphabetical order. Ownership is shown as listed (shares trade on a stock exchange), private, state or a mix. Sources for each entry appear in the profiles that follow.

Supplier profiles: Accenture to Leidos

Accenture. Accenture is a professional services firm with its registered headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange ². In border work it acts as a systems integrator. In September 2016 eu-LISA, the EU agency for large IT systems, chose a consortium led by Accenture, with Atos and Safran, to run and develop the Visa Information System and its Biometric Matching System. Accenture led programme management, architecture and application work ¹. In 2012 it co-developed eGates with Vision-Box for the Dutch interior ministry at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol ³¹.

Amadeus. Amadeus is a travel technology company based in Madrid. Its shares have traded on Spanish stock exchanges since 29 April 2010 ⁵. It sells Passenger Data Gateway, a system for governments that collects API, iAPI and PNR data from airlines and sends board or do-not-board answers within seconds. The product page names no government customers ³. Amadeus has owned Vision-Box since April 2024 ⁴. On 29 April 2026 it agreed to buy IDEMIA Public Security for a base price of 1.2 billion euros, with closing expected in mid-2027 subject to regulatory approval ⁶.

Collins Aerospace. Collins Aerospace is a business of RTX, a group based in Arlington, Virginia, whose shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange ⁹. It supplies shared passenger processing systems and biometric boarding. In April 2025 the Heathrow Airline Operators' Committee renewed its ARINC cMUSE contract for six years. The system serves all four Heathrow terminals and more than 80 airlines. The first MUSE system went in at Heathrow in 1999 ⁷. In September 2019 Collins won a contract to install its SelfPass face recognition boarding system at all international gates at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, linked to the US Customs and Border Protection Traveler Verification Service ⁸.

IDEMIA Public Security. IDEMIA Public Security is a French biometrics and identity business owned by the private equity firm Advent International. It reported 2025 revenue of 711 million euros and about 3,300 staff ⁶. Its product names include BORDERGUARD for border control, PaXpress for airports and products for the EU Entry/Exit System ¹². In January 2023 Australia's Department of Home Affairs had installed 109 IDEMIA self-service kiosks at eight international airports, with eGates to follow at the same airports ¹³. In June 2023 Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and HTX awarded IDEMIA its automated border control contract for air, land and sea checkpoints. IDEMIA first installed gates at Changi Airport under a 2017 contract ¹⁴. IDEMIA says the TSA chose it in 2023 for next-generation Credential Authentication Technology ¹².

Leidos. Leidos is based in Reston, Virginia, and its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange. In May 2020 it bought the security detection division of L3Harris, which makes airport screening machines ¹⁷. Its products include ClearScan CT scanners for cabin bags, Pro:Vision body scanners, ProPassage tray return systems and Mosaic checkpoint software ^15,16. In February 2023 Airport Technology reported a TSA contract to update more than 1,000 Pro:Vision units with a new detection algorithm. The same report said Frankfurt Airport had chosen ClearScan ¹⁶. Leeds Bradford Airport in England picked Leidos for new checkpoint lanes, with the first lanes due in late 2023 ¹⁵.

Supplier profiles: Mühlbauer to Securiport

Mühlbauer. Mühlbauer is based in Roding, Germany. It started there as a small workshop in 1981 and employs more than 4,000 people. Its pages list border management systems, ePassport production and personalisation, and enrolment systems. Its pages do not state its ownership ¹⁹. In 2017 Argentina chose Mühlbauer to supply automated border control. Ten FAST GATES at two Buenos Aires ferry terminals went live in August 2018, with NEC and Megatrans among the local partners. Argentina later ordered Mühlbauer systems for Rosario International Airport, and in late 2018 Mühlbauer won a contract for the Iguazu land border ¹⁸.

NEC. NEC Corporation is a Japanese company whose shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under code 6701. Its Bio-IDiom range covers face recognition and other biometrics. NEC supplied the face recognition system for Face Express at Narita and Haneda airports in Tokyo, which let passengers pass check-in, bag drop, security and boarding by face from July 2021. NEC says it has supplied biometric systems to about 50 airports worldwide ²⁰. NEC was a local partner on Argentina's eGate project ¹⁸.

Nuctech. Nuctech is a Chinese maker of scanners for people, baggage and cargo, and of explosives detectors. It began as an offshoot of Tsinghua University in Beijing. In January 2022 the Associated Press reported that Tongfang Co. held 71% of Nuctech and that the investment arm of China National Nuclear Corp., a state-run group, was Tongfang's largest shareholder. Nuctech told the AP that the state group does not control its management or decisions. The same AP review found Nuctech equipment in 26 of 27 EU member states, at airports including Amsterdam, Brussels, Athens, Zurich and Geneva ²¹.

Rapiscan (OSI Systems). Rapiscan Systems is part of OSI Systems, which is based in Hawthorne, California, and listed on Nasdaq. OSI bought Rapiscan in 1993 ²³. Rapiscan products include the Orion 920CT checkpoint scanner, the Rapiscan TRS tray return system, the Orion 935DX cargo scanner and the Itemiser 5X trace detector. In May 2025 OSI announced a contract worth about 36 million dollars to supply and service these systems at an unnamed international airport in the Middle East ²².

Securiport. Securiport LLC is based in Reston, Virginia. It was founded in 2001 and describes itself as privately owned ^24,26. Its products are APIS Plus, a Border Control System, a Threat Management System, an eVISA-Travel Authorization System and the Securiport Enterprise System. It offers design, installation, training and maintenance under a model it calls Build, Train, Maintain and Transfer ^24,26. In January 2020 it announced a contract with the Central African Republic for biometric screening at M'Poko International Airport in Bangui. The same release said it had handed its systems in Equatorial Guinea to the government after about ten years under a build, maintain and transfer contract ²⁵. In June 2026 Biometric Update reported that Securiport had proposed a 10.74 billion peso public-private partnership in the Philippines covering 11 international airports, one seaport and six border crossings, funded by user fees. No contract had been signed at that date ²⁸. Biometric Update reported Securiport proposals in Pakistan in April 2026 and in Bangladesh in October 2026 ²⁷.

Supplier profiles: SITA to WCC Group

SITA. SITA is based in Geneva and was founded in 1949 by eleven airlines. About 400 industry members, including airlines and airports, own all of it ³⁰. Its border products include Border Flow, Risk Intelligence and Trusted Identity, and it handles API and Advance Passenger Processing for governments. SITA says it gives border support to more than 80 nations ^29,30. Its own pages describe biometric travel at more than 700 touchpoints at Hamad International Airport in Qatar and faster border control for Georgian citizens at Kutaisi International Airport ²⁹. Dublin Airport used SITA iBorders gates in a 2013 eGate pilot ³¹.

Smiths Detection. Smiths Detection is a UK-based maker of checkpoint, hold baggage and air cargo screening equipment. It says its screening technology is used at 47 of the world's top 50 airports ³². In December 2025 Smiths Group agreed to sell the business to funds advised by CVC at an enterprise value of 2.0 billion pounds ³². On 3 July 2026 trade press reported that the move to CVC was complete ³³. In September 2019 the TSA awarded Smiths Detection a 96.8 million dollar contract for HI-SCAN 6040 CTiX checkpoint CT scanners ³⁴.

Thales (including Gemalto). Thales is based in Paris and its shares trade on Euronext Paris. The French state held 26.60% of its ordinary shares as of 30 June 2025. Thales bought the digital security firm Gemalto after a bid in 2017 ¹¹. In March 2021 France awarded Thales a contract for several hundred Thales Gemalto Border Kiosks at air, land and sea crossings. The kiosks capture fingerprints and faces for the EU Entry/Exit System ¹⁰.

Unisys. Unisys is based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange ³⁶. In March 2018 Australia's Department of Home Affairs chose Unisys to build its Enterprise Biometric Identification Services system, worth up to 44 million Australian dollars. The system matches the faces and fingerprints of travellers, visa applicants and citizenship applicants against watch lists. It uses IDEMIA matching algorithms and replaced a Unisys system that had run for 12 years ³⁵.

Veridos. Veridos is based in Berlin and was founded in January 2015. It is a joint venture of Giesecke+Devrient and Bundesdruckerei, the German state-owned printer ^37,38. It supplies passports, ID cards, border control systems and the VeriGO verification platform. In July 2018 Bangladesh awarded Veridos a contract worth about 340 million euros over 12 years for ePassports and border control, including 50 eGates at airports, seaports and land ports ³⁷.

Vision-Box. Vision-Box makes biometric eGates, kiosks and the software that runs them. Its founder is Miguel Leitmann, and the investment firm Keensight Capital held part of it before its sale ⁴⁰. Amadeus completed its purchase in April 2024 at an enterprise value of about 320 million euros. At that time Vision-Box had about 470 staff ⁴. In November 2013 Lisbon Airport installed 24 Vision-Box e-gates ³⁹. In January 2014 Vision-Box won a UK Border Force contract for up to 180 eGates over four years, after 46 earlier gates from 2009. In September 2013 it won a contract for 64 eGates at Hamad International Airport in Qatar ³¹.

WCC Group. WCC Group is based in Utrecht in the Netherlands, with offices in the United States and Malaysia ⁴¹. The investment firm Avedon Capital Partners became its majority shareholder in December 2016 ⁴³. It builds search and match software on its ELISE platform. Its current website lists public employment and civil identity products and names no border or passenger data deployments ⁴². We could not confirm a current border product from its own pages or from trade press.

Ownership changes from 2024 to 2026

Three deals reshaped the supplier list in the period covered. Each is described from the company or trade press announcement.

In April 2024 Amadeus completed its purchase of Vision-Box at an enterprise value of about 320 million euros ⁴. On 29 April 2026 Amadeus agreed to buy IDEMIA Public Security from Advent International for 1.2 billion euros, with a possible earn-out of 150 million euros. The deal was expected to close in mid-2027, subject to regulatory approval ⁶. As of 19 October 2026 we found no report that it had closed.

In December 2025 Smiths Group agreed to sell Smiths Detection to funds advised by CVC ³². Trade press reported the move complete on 3 July 2026 ³³.