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A mobile X-ray machine capable of screening the contents of large cargo containers was used for the first time Tuesday to check trucks entering O’Hare International Airport, authorities said.

The exercise, part of a drill involving federal and city agencies, will become a common security practice as a 2010 deadline requiring screening of all cargo that is loaded aboard passenger planes approaches, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Currently, all passengers and their checked baggage and carry-on items are screened for explosives and weapons. But cargo carried in the belly of U.S. passenger planes—more than 10,000 tons of air freight daily—undergoes only random inspections, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

The security agency is hiring and training hundreds of cargo inspectors across the country to meet the screening deadline, officials said.

The surprise cargo security inspections conducted Tuesday were aimed at looking for suspicious items hidden in trucks making deliveries to stores and kiosks in airport terminals, said Elio Montenegro, a TSA spokesman.

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