CBRNe News June 2008
Gwyn Winfield examines the latest news in the world of CBRNE
Product Watch
Frost Watch
Bruker Daltonics announced that they had been awarded Frost and Sullivan’s 2008 Technology Leadership Award for the CBRN detection market. Frost and Sullivan awarded it to Bruker on the basis of their development of best in class products that meet market demands.
Putting out fires
Cristanini, the Italian decontamination company, announced that they had sold their Sanijet C921 trailer to the Paris Fire Brigade. Cristanini claim that the C921 can do chemical, biological and radiological decontamination. This follows on from their recent contract to supply a mobile modular decontamination system for the NRBC Dept. Of the French National Police.
Marburg revisited?
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals has announced a $44.4 million contract from DTRA to test and develop their Bavituximab and an equivalent fully human antibody as potential treatment for viral hemorrhagic fevers. Ebola, Marburg and their cousins have been the media darling thanks to films like Outbreak, but the low commercial need for a treatment has so far held back any attempt at combating it. It is a five year contract and it will be interesting to see whether Bavituximab has any potential as an anti-viral.
Dollar windfall for Czech research institutes
As part of the deal for the x-band radar that the US is trying to install in the Czech Republic, the US is offering lucrative research contracts to Universities and technical centres that specialise in nanotech, bio-tech, robotics and bio defence. The Czech Republic has a vibrant research program that has been dogged by mediocre funding, so it will be interesting to see what comes out from them once the funding tap is turned on.
Proengin on the underground
Proengin’s AP4C has been chosen by the UK’s Metropolitan Police, apparently the defining reason was their ability to work in the London Underground without false alarming.
Running them to ground
EADS Defence and Security and Pursuit Dynamics have signed a two year licensing agreement on the use of Pursuit’s Basilisk technology. Basilisk is a decontamination solution dispersal system that sprays a fine mist which they suggest offers unparalleled projection and surface area coverage. EADS has hitherto not been a major player in CBRN defence, perhaps Pursuit is the start of more joint agreements, but quite what decontaminant is going to be used in Pursuits dispersal method is not known.
To the barricades!
Allons enfant de la Patrie! Delta Scientific announced that they had sold over 400 shallow foundation barricades to customers all over the world. Set in a foundation of only 12 inches, rather than the standard 18, it offers a K12 crash rating and has an operating speed of .38 seconds. With VBIEDs being a major concern in many civilian sectors a system that can be installed without causing problems to buried wires, pipes etc is a big advantage.
Customary purchase
The Belgian port of Antwerp is the proud owner of Canberra’s Advanced Spectroscopic Portal (ASP) system. Purchased by Belgian Customs, the ASP will be used to screen cargoes that have set off the primary alarm (through having a source like granite or bananas). The Germanium system will be used alongside x-ray and will be able to detect special nuclear materials or isotopes that could be used in RDDs.
SBS and Sabre EXV Launched
Smiths Detection has been showing the Beta version of their Smart Bio Sensor (SBS) for at least a year now, but they have finally launched it. SBS samples air, uses a eight sensor array and particle counter to detect airborne pathogens. Using fluorescence and particle counting is not necessarily a new technique, but it does add a new string to the bow of Smith’s bio detection capability.
Smiths also launched their Sabre EXV their homemade explosive detector. Utilising IMS, Sabre has been designed to detect hydrogen peroxide, and after taking an air sample will alarm up to ten seconds after.
On the podium
Universal Detection announced a contract from the Chinese government for their radiation detectors for the forthcoming Olympics. While undoubtedly good news for Universal, I just hope that the training and maintenance package is robust enough to deal with any false alarms that might spoil the enjoyment of the games.
Draeger offer their AFU100 filtration unit
Draeger continue to expand their CBRN defence portfolio with the launch of their air filtration unit – AFU100. It is designed to be a modular unit to allow it to fit a variety of shapes and vehicles, filtration of 100 cbm/h, low power consumption, a dust separator, particle filter and gas filter. They describe their further enhancements as filter recognition, which indicates whether particle or gas filters are being used, compressed gas design and volume flow monitoring to help with filter life.
To Ionfinity... and beyond!
Ionfinity announced that they have been awarded a Army Small Business Technology Transfer Program, worth $750,000, for their advanced robotic detection of chemical agents. Ionfinity are hoping that their link up with Nasa’s Jet propulsion Lab, Caltech, GD, Sionex and Imaginative Technology will allow the to develop a novel chemical agent sensor using differential mobility spectrometry and a micro GC. The goal is to provide an enhanced version of GD’s Juno chemical detector.
How neutral of you
Bioneutral Laboratories announced the results of their tests using their Ygiene formulation which apparently killed anthrax spores within 15 seconds. The tests were done at the Tisch Hospital at the New York University Medical Center. Unsurprisingly Bioneutral are keen that Ygiene will get into the hands of the military and first responder market, it will be interesting to see what ECBC, CEB and Porton Down make of it...
Boy Oh Boyé
Chemviron Carbon fulfilled their $400,000 contract for carbon cloth to Paul Boyé in just six weeks – they announced. This was the second contract awarded to Chemviron in the last six months as part of a five year supply agreement and the Zorflex cloth will be used by range of Boyé customers in their suits, gloves and socks.
Things that are made to go boom
American Innovation’s handheld explosive detector, the XD-2i was recently tested by Ardec. The XD-2i utilises swipe patches and were able to identify TNT, perchlorates, nitrates or whether the sample was inert. 400 tests on 214 different materials were conducted over a three week period and the general performance was deemed to be encouraging
M50 finally signed
Avon Protection must have breathed a sigh of relief when their $112 million contract to supply the four US services with the M50 respirator. Avon will supply 100,000 M50s over a five year period and pricing has been supplied for additional requirements for spares and masks. Never in doubt as a contract, it will be odd to see the M40 and M17 become items of historical note.
Back on (Thermal)Trac
MSA have launched their new remote video transmission system to be added onto their thermal imager – ThermalTrac. This allows TIC images to be transmitted to the Commanders handheld video receiver and with only one button is easy to operate!
Big in Japan
The Japanese Ground Self Defence Force exercised an option to purchase two more Biological Aerosol Warning System (BAWS) from Lockheed Martin. BAWS utilises particle counting as its detection method and comes with a solid state air mass sensor, humidity sensor, a compass, GPS and a radio receiver. BAWS will be used by the CBRN Defence Unit of the Japanese Ground Self Defence Force.
Obituaries
The world of chemical detection was moved by the death of Dr Bob Turner OBE on June 4. Dr Turner was Director of Technology Acquisition for Smiths Detection and internationally acknowledged as one of the foremost authorities on IMS. Over a 25 year period he supervised many projects, such as the US Acada programme, and had many key patents to his name. He leaves a widow and three grown children.
Threat Watch
Diplomatic immunity?
A worker at the Ukraine’s embassy was arrested, along with the security manager of a local bank, for attempting to smuggle radioactive material. The material had come from a holding facility in Kiev and was apparently destined for figures in organised crime. The pair were detained in Cherkassy with caesium and uranium in their car with an estimated ‘street value’ of $4.9 million.
GAO report on First Responder CBRN detection
The US’ Government Accountability Office (GAO) released their report on ‘First Responders Ability to detect and model hazardous releases in urban areas is significantly limited’ – no prizes for guessing what the report was about. The full report can be read on http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08180.pdf but chapter headings like ‘CBRN Detection equipment has significant limitations for first responder’s use’ and ‘Plume models for analysing urban dispersion of CBRN agents have limited capabilities’ show the amount of hoovering up of low hanging fruit that the GAO has done. News is not the place to try and provide an in depth analysis of the report, but it is fair to say that the home truths contained within will not be a surprise to many specialists – still worth a read though!
Salt and tetrodoxin?
Just to prove that scarcely a month goes by when some nut doesn’t try and do something silly in his kitchen, comes the story about Edward Bachner. Mr Bachner, a Chicago resident, posed as a Doctor to order 98 miligrams of the puffer fish toxin tetrodoxin, which, we were told is 1,200 times more deadly than Cyanide (is there a chart somewhere that provides this information at a glance?)! Mr Bachner was picked up by a FBI agent after the company that he bought it from got suspicious. Quite why he needed such a quantity is not known, presumably to defend himself against the UN or the voices in his head. – the fact that he took out a $5 million insurance contract on his wife (with a bonus if she was killed by terrorists) is probably accidental.
Hatfill o’ dollars
Steven Hatfill the ‘person of interest’ in the 2001 anthrax letters case has agreed to take 5.8 million from the Justice Department and settle his claim of invasion of privacy and the ruination of his career. Prosecutors are suggesting that the payout means that the former Fort Detrick employee will never be charged. Hatfill had been the leading suspect in the case, and seven years later there doesn’t seem to be anyone else about to step into the frame – deathbed confession anyone?
Changes to the Axis of Evil
Well, North Korea didn’t make the grade, but Iran continues to improve! The destruction of a cooling tower at their Yongbyon plutonium production complex was a visible sign of their commitment to working with the US – and the US responded by taking them off the ‘Axis of Evil’ and lifted some sanctions. Critics pointed out that this didn’t deal with the potential of North Korea to have an arsenal of nuclear missiles, or to stop them proliferating technology – as they were accused in the Al Kibar site in Syria.
Iran, clearly feeling the need to step into the void launched their Shahab-3 missile and made noises about blocking the Straits of Hormouz in case of attack. The US Secretary of State called the launch provocative – despite the fact that there is little new in the missile, which has been tested before – and the Israeli Housing Minister suggested that “Israel should prepare itself to do what is needed to do.” This followed an announcement by Iran’s Head of the Revolutionary Guard that should Israel attack Iran that they would close the Straits. Unsurprisingly the US Navy had different views and Vice Adm. Cosgriff of the US Fifth Fleet commented that he would not allow such an action. Clearly all this is good for whipping up a froth of anti-American feeling in Tehran and taking pressure of Ahmadinejad’s unpopular regime.
And another one...
Well, we’d hate a month to go by without someone in the US being charged with possession of ricin. Ricin has now been found in the cell of a former Las Vegas Poker dealer who was conspiring with a woman to kill her partner and two sons. Presumably instead of being charged with attempted murder he will now be charged with attempted possession of a weapon of mass destruction and sentenced to be frozen in carbonite and fired into space – or whatever happens to these individuals.
A little knowledge...
The detection of chemical weapons has now found itself hitched to the wagon of saving bees. A UK Member of Parliament for Norwich, who has been very concerned with the dwindling bee population has criticised the government for not increasing funding to find out why the bees – which are a potential weapon in the detection of chemical weapons – are disappearing. He quoted the work that the Pentagon [sic] has done on bees as chemical detectors and suggested that this was something that could be replicated in the UK.
French military cuts... and CBRN increases?
The huge cuts in military manpower (-54,000) and big ticket procurement items has been balanced out by France rejoining Nato’s military command and an increased focus in defending against NRBC (CBRN) weapons. One of the major concerns was France’s nuclear arsenal, which will remain, said President Nicolas Sarkozy, “strictly national.’ He suggested that the terrorist threat was ‘real’ and ‘here’ and that the use of CBRN weapons is more likely, without going into detail he suggested that French troops would get more equipment to deal with these weapons. Sounds like good news for French NRBC companies!
A little spin never hurt anyone...
The Times of India reported that 64 per cent of Indian scientists would refuse to work on designing biological weapons and that 54 per cent would not work on nuclear weapons. Strangely I would have thought the story that a third of all Indian scientists have no qualms about working on biological weapons and that half are prepared to work on nukes would have been bigger. If I were Al Qaeda I know where I’d set up my Technical Institute!
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