Terrorists have a new weapon of choice, an undetectable bomb that even the most advanced scanners can’t pick up. It is a military grade explosive known as PETN, and it’s powerful enough to blow up a car with just a 100 grams. It is also the same type of explosive that terrorists like the Shoe-Bomber attempted to use, and the same one that the infamous Christmas flight bomber failed to use on his flight to Detroit.

What is so appealing about this explosive to terrorists is that it is very small, yet powerful for its size, it’s also undetectable by metal detectors, and it can be hidden on the body. Even with the Millimeter Wave Screening scanner (a new scanner used in some airports that takes an X-Ray like picture of the body), the bombs were not detected.

This experience shows us that the government and airports have to step up their security and find a new way to screen passengers for these types of explosives. Or at the very least, start using more of the methods of screening passengers to prevent terrorists from sneaking explosives onto the planes.