CBRNe News December 2006
Gwyn Winfield examines the latest news in the world of CBRNE
Gothenburg here we come http://www.cbwsymp.foi.se/
In December 2006 CBRNe World was awarded the position of Official Media Partner for 2007’s CBW Symposium in Gothenburg, Sweden – beating off competition from other trade magazines. For those who are new to CBRN, or have never been to one of the previous shows (the event is now in its 27th year!), this is, without a doubt, the best CBRN event in the world.
While it only occurs every three years, a somewhat laborious wait, it does mean that the Symposium attracts the best scientific papers from around the world – China, Iran, Czech Republic, Canada, US, UK, Australia etc etc. The editor spends a great deal of his time travelling around the world to various shows and gives it his strongest seal of approval.
For contacts, networking and information that show has no parallel, while some of the papers can be extreme the range of parallel sessions usually ensure that something of the listeners level can always be found, or, if not, time can be swell spent in the world’s largest CBRN exhibition. If you are unsure what you are doing on the 22nd to 25th of May this year I’d suggest that that indecision has disappeared. As Official Media Partner for the event CBRNe World will be involved in a range of activities and will be a major source of information at the event – as well as its usual brand of networking opportunities! See you there.
Love and Marriage
In possibly on of the biggest bits of industry news since Smiths bought Graseby Detection, January saw a joint venture announced between Smiths and US giant General Electric. Called Smiths GE Detection this will see Smith’s own 64% and GE 36%, at time of writing, however, little has been announced in terms of definitive articles yet what is obvious is the major advantage in the airport security sector – where both Smiths and GE are strong. Smiths will also gain another raman detector, GE’s Streetlab, as well as additional explosives and narcotics detectors such as Vapour Tracer and Itemiser. The benefits from shared research and cost savings that the new JV will allow will be eagerly awaited…
Shiver me timbers!
December also saw Northrop Grumman/Remotec awarded the next generation UGV, Cutlass, by the UK MoD. Cutlass’ prime role will be in IED/EOD disposal, but it’s capability will not doubt allow it to perform a range of tools – should they be needed. The design has a high degree of modularity built in and will allow a range of sensor and detector packages to be utilised. The UGV will be delivered by 2010 and has been developed by Remotec, Qinetiq and LSC Group. The UK MoD is recognised as one of the world’s authorities on EOD UGV design and this will undoubtedly be a success for Remotec’s export sales department (should they get clearance, which is also a different matter).
Keep on trucking
The first six of the UK MoD’s latest biodetector, IBDS Version 2, were handed over to the JCBRNR (Joint CBRN Regiment) by Lockeed Martin in January. The IBDS behemoth will be familiar to CBRN aficionados from its Version 1 incarnation, but improvements in bio-detection and power management have increased it’s capability. With the JCBRNR having included a bio-detection capability in their Light Role Team procurement and the UK having fixed site bio-detection through the ISMS contract it is difficult to see a dynamic role for the mobility restricted IBDS. While the technology inside it is excellent, it still comes with a significant training burden and a large manpower requirement (a crew of four). That said, it provides UK troops with a biological detection capability today, and that has to be better than a suitcase sized bio-detector tomorrow.
Remote control
Allen Vanguard recently announced the development of their Remote RF Initiator for EOD disposal. The system is able to initiate explosive charges or disruptors up to a distance of 1,500 metres. The system allows five initiators to be triggered by a command unit and has a system cut-out to stop any accidental initiation in case of low battery or other faults. IED disposal continues to be a hot issue and with the US budget for anything IED disposal seemingly being limitless it would seem likely that this will be a period of rapid incremental improvements in all parts of the EOD chain.
Happy Birthday
December saw the first birthday of the launch of DIS – Defence Industrial Strategy – the UK MoD’s procurement revamp. The years targets have been met – establishment of a joint team, developing engagement models, identify pros and cons of these models and to devise and deliver a mature developmental model.
Fifty companies have engaged with Frazer Nash’s baseline study (which would suggest that a lot of companies have yet to do so) and this will allow a potential research funding road map to be developed. Currently the team is lacking in feedback from companies involved in colpro, decontamination, stand-off detection and bio-detection and any companies that are, and have not done so already, should contact Doug MacMillan This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
ICX expand sampling business
ICX owners of Griffin Analytical and Mesosystems, to name but two, announced their new, handheld chemical sampler. The device – X-Sorber – has been devised and produced by Griffin Technologies, manufacturers of a range of GC/MS detectors, and is designed to be taken into the hot zone to try and safeguard against the possible need to decontaminate the GC/MS. The sampler only weighs 3lb, has two reusable sorbent tubes that allows information to be recorded and transferred to a host system and requires a minimum of training. While ICX is not the only manufacturer of sampling systems it’s ability to offer a family of systems – Mesosystems for bio and Griffin for Chem – will raise their profile.
Czech it out
Bruker Daltonics announced a $4 million contract for their Raid XP chemical and radiological detector. The Czech Army have bought them to be integrated into their generic Steyr vehicle fleet. While the contract value might not be enormous, the Czech Army are seen as the trend setter for a great deal of Central and Eastern European militaries – in terms of CBRN – and Bruker will be hoping to have a lot of doors opened on the strength of this award.
The Island
EpiVax, a Rhode Island based genome vaccine company, recently announced that they had developed a promising vaccine for tularaemia. Tularemia was always suspected to be one of the Soviet’s ‘pet’ vaccines and has been considered a major potential for a BWA for decades. While so far the testing is still at the mouse level, researchers have been extremely pleased with the results from ‘humanized’ mice.
VX dumped
The ongoing fight to stop the US Army treating their VX at the Dupont factory in New Jersey came to something approaching a conclusion. Dupont, after a great deal of prolonged and heavy pressure, decided to pull out of the deal. This is clearly a victory for the Nimbys (Not In My Back Yard) as it does not stop the Army’s need to destroy the agent, just postpones it’s destruction and adds further cost and delay to an already time-poor problem.
Murder most foul
Shortly after the publication of the Winter edition of CBRNe World it became apparent that the ex-KGB agent in London had been poisoned by Polonium 210. In an assassination redolent of the Markov case, Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned, apparently, by ingesting millions of bechtels of alpha emitting Polonium 210 through a cup of tea. The UK and Russia seem to be at loggerheads over the usual suspects, with fingers pointing at either two ex-KGB agents, Andre Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, or millionaire Russian émigré Berezovsky.
As for as CBRNe World is concerned the real interest is where the Polonium 210 came from, an isotope far rarer than was needed to radiologically assassinate an individual. Clearly the isotope was not expected to be found (were they waiting for it’s half-life), or at least not to be discovered quite so quickly, which suggests an agenda outside of the usual suspects. Quite what else these individuals could also get their hands on makes me hope that there is a state actor involved somewhere – the alternative would be at the heart of our worst fears.
Did we miss it?
The focus was previously on the potential of CBRN asymmetric weapons, but has their day come and gone? The international furore surrounding the destruction of an orbiting satellite by the Chinese will not have gone unnoticed… While beyond the reach of your average fundamentalist, it would seem to be a valuable lesson for those state actors who would otherwise be looking for a way to level the playing field against the US military machine.
Instead of research funding going into binary biological agents and new CWA could there be a shift in emphasis to boost phases rockets etc? Perhaps those countries at the top end of the US’ threat scale, North Korea, Iran and China, but probably not for those who cannot create anything bigger than 120mm rockets. Whether this shift in emphasis will make us safer – bit difficult for terrorists to break in and steal a 40 metre rocket – than the CBRN spectre we will have to wait and see.
Deadline’s approaching…
By the time the Spring edition is received through most peoples letter boxes it will become apparent whether the US has managed to hit their CWC April deadline for the destruction of their chemical munitions. The US National Research Council recently suggested to the US Army that their methods could be improved by utilising methods used in Europe and Japan – quite how warmly these suggestions were received is unrecorded.
Track record
In a perfect example of why plume tracking is so difficult, the US Navy revealed a study that showed that four people managed to become infected with spores from the Daschle anthrax letter despite not having entered the building. The four people fought off the infection without getting sick, and were part of a group of 20 who were presumed to be exposed – despite being outside. If it hadn’t been for this pre-emptive grab presumably their symptoms and contamination would have been missed, quite how many others might also fall into the same category is unknown.
Just when they thought they were passed the worst
The unseasonably warm January brought an unwelcome visitor to the British Isles in the shape of the H5N1, bird flu, virus. Just when 160,000 Turkeys on a farm in Norfolk thought they were safely passed the Christmas period the death of some of their number from H5N1 brought a Health Protection Agency cull. Quite how this visitor arrived has yet to be ascertained, but the threat to human life has been described as negligible – as opposed to the impact on Turkey sales.
Please forward any items for consideration in this section to the editor, Gwyn Winfield This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it