Bio-chemical protection suits, thermal imaging cameras, and the latest infrared night vision equipment — it sounds like James Bond’s Christmas stocking.

They are,  in fact,  just some of the latest gadgets and gizmos designed to thwart terrorists and criminals which have gone on show at a major international security exhibition in London this week. With governments regularly warning of the growing and wide-ranging threat from militants, security is now a multi-billion pound business.  

And the good news for the 100-odd companies and agencies from around the world demonstrating their latest hi-tech wares is that no one knows what the “enemy” is planning. During the Cold War, the West knew what its opponents were capable of doing but not their intent, one speaker told a conference that accompanied the exhibition. Now the reverse is true.

Nowadays, imagine a possible threat and you can be fairly sure someone is out there trying to design technology to thwart it.

The exhibition had hand-held sensors to detect nerve gases; screening machines that can detect if someone is carrying explosives, electronics, gels or liquids; scanners that can penetrate steel; and the latest control barriers deisnged to stop something weighing 7,500 kg travelling at 50 mph.

It all looks and sounds very impressive. But can new technology alone solve security problems? Probably not. 

As Jay Cohen, the Under Secretary in charge of Science and Technology at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, told the conference, even defence systems that were 100 percent effective could hit stumbling blocks. 

He cited how his department’s researchers had come up with equipment that could defend airplanes from shoulder-fired missiles. Although it worked perfectly, none of the airlines wanted to pay the cost of installing it on all their aircraft.

They are now working instead on a new scheme where an unmanned aircraft flies at 60,000 ft with the capability of detecting a missle being launched, and then diverting or destroying it,  Cohen said. 

And despite all the impressive gadgetery on display, it was a stand with no hi-tec features that caught my attention. 

The Defence Animal Centre’s secret weapon was a two-year-old black labrador, trained to locate bombs and about to be sent on active service to Afghanistan. She was much friendlier, and I suspect much cheaper, than her rivals.