CBRNe News April 2010

Product Watch

A Letter from the Queen?

While it might be traditional for Her Majesty to send a postcard on an individual‘s centennial Chemimage aren’t holding their breath for their 100^th patent! Chemimage placed the patent for a chemical imaging explosive optical sensor, this joins their other patents for chemical imaging, threat detection and forensic tools (as well as 96 other products!).

Jamming them in.

Kirintec announced that they had launched a new portable jammer to deal with security in crowded places. The system utilises their existing Rebus system with a tented faraday cage structure, and this enclosure, with their ECM antenna embedded into the fabric, allows directed jamming, to allow normal communication systems to work outside of the immediate area. The tent is based on the pop up tents beloved of music festivals and can accommodate a medium sized suitcase and is flexible enough to fit into awkward locations. Kirintec, which are a relatively new company, have already signed up six police forces around the world, and are awaiting orders from another 15.

Crashing bore

Delta Scientific’s vehicle control systems managed to help thwart an attack on the US Embassy in Peshawar. The bomber was unable to get access to the building and detonated his device where it was stopped – which was good news for Embassy staff, but less good for people in the immediate vicinity of the new target. Their device uses its mass and structure to stop vehicles and is transportable, has no foundations and can be set up in one day.

Number 9 is alive

Northrop Grumman launched their next generation wheelbarrow UGV, the Mark 9, at the Counter Terror Expo in London. While not as technologically advanced as the UK MoD’s Cutlass vehicle the UGV has improved on previous iterations in many ways. The Mk9 now have improved digitical comms, enhanced interface, wireless hand controller, a telescopic arm with 7 degrees of freedom, a reach of 6 metres, a lift capacity of 150kg and a speed of 5kmh.

Retro Chic

The French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) announced that they had isolated two compounds that might be useful in ricin poison defeat. The Retro 1 and Retro 2 compounds have shown efficacy against ricin and e.coli attacks against tissue samples and mice models. The compounds offer pre-exposure protection, but at this TRL stage it is clearly too early to determine how long this efficacy lasts.

Pure and natural

HTI announced that their forward osmosis water filtration device was now ready to be marketed. The ‘Camelbak’ style bladder allows individuals to take standing water, run it through their filter and all viruses, bacteria and parasites are eliminated by the membrane filter. The system takes five minutes to filter the water and is already in service with various US military units.

Alexium Fire it up.

Alexium announced that they had been selected as one of three contenders for the chemical protection component in the US Air Force’s Modified Joint Fire Integrated Response Ensemble (JFIRE). JFIRE is aimed at the USAF fire emergency services and is looking to reduce the profile of a JSLIST by 50%, it’s weight by 20% but increasing breathability and mobility by 50%. The Alexium solution will now be put through its paces at North Carolina State University.

Cristanini’s entente cordiale

Cristanini announced that they had received an order from the French Army for another 40-60 (which seems a rather cavalier approach to numbers – Ed) decontamination systems, to join the 50 already in service. This is in addition to the Polish Defence Ministry that has ordered 16 systems – but all these will pale in comparison to any potential order from the JPEO, who seem greatly enamoured with Cristanini these days...

Hot Pursuit

Meanwhile Cristanini’s erstwhile competitor, Kaercher Futuretech, have teamed up with Pursuit Dynamics to form a Joint Venture company. Pursuit manufacture the Basilisk nozzle that is able to produce an ultra-fine spray that can surround a vehicle/object and deliver decon solution to all the hard to reach places.

Big in Japan

Saint Gobains poster-boy suit, the One Suit, continued its international growth with a Service and Support centre being opened in Suwa, Japan. One Suit provides NFPA 1991 standard protection within a lightweight, one-skin design.

Roll of the DISE

An innovative little product was launched on the CBRN market by Adaptive Methods, their DISE product. Looking like nothing so much as a... you guessed it... a dice, the Deployable Interchangeable Sensor is designed to be rugged enough to be hurled at a cloud, or spill, and provide real time video coverage as well as a range of interchangeable chemical sensors – oxygen, chlorine, radiation etc.

All this information can then be fed back real-time to the command sensor –giving them both qualitative and quantitative information. Really nice idea that is let down by the fact that it is limited by the distance that a man can throw it – and hence his proximity to a plume – BUT, I have no doubt that once this gets into the hands of users that it will be used in ways initially not thought of – down escalators/stairs into subways springs to mind...

Argon flying higher...

Argon Electronics clearly celebrated when they managed to seal a contract with the US Air Force for 145 JCAD SIM. These will equip nine primary and Silver Flag USAF CBRN training facilities with the ability to learn how to use their new M4-JCAD without the use of simulated, or live, chemical agents. The JCAD-SIM comes with a simulation confidence tester and training sieve pack change system, for further verisimilitude.

AMITA win EU Bomb Data System

Canadian public safety and emergency management system company, Amita, announced that they had won a contract from the European Police Office (EUROPOL) to develop and integrate the EU Bomb Data System. Amita have been developing their SOCIUS/Plus! System for such eventualities, and it will provide a data system for those Police forces that have to deal with EOD/CBRN incidents. This common incident and intel database is already in place with such forces as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and allows forces to exchange incident data and best practices.

NABCO go to Evansville

Evansville Police Department, PA, announced that they had bought the Nabco Total Containment Vessel (TCV) to help them with IEDs with a chemical or biological payloads. The TCV allows safe detonation within its chassis, and then allows the user to draw off a sample of the payload – if needed.

Raytheon are looking forward

The QDR requirement to do standoff radiological detection seems to be taken seriously by DTRA who have awarded a $20.5 million contract to Raytheon for their ISIS – Integrated Standoff Inspection System – which is to look at shielded gamma radiation. Big money, bigger challenge – we will keep you posted...

Threat Watch

This won’t hit a bit... well, maybe just a little.

64 discharged IDF soldiers are suing the Israeli Ministry of Defence for $4.8 million for damage that they claim has been caused by being part of Israel’s anthrax vaccine tests in the 1990s. The experiments, nicknamed Omer2, saw 716 soldiers picked out of a pool of 4,000. The soldiers claim that they were not given all the information about the risks involved and are requesting full details of what they were injected with and recompense for mental anguish and emotional distress. No mention was made, however, of any physical complaints directly related to the vaccine...

No nukes please, we’re Las Vegans

Concerns from a Nevadan senator have scotched plans for the National Level Exercise that was mooted to take place in Las Vegas. The scenario called for a simulant RDD to be released in the Strip, the major tourist area of the city, sadly tourist concerns won over concepts of preparedness. Apparently tourists would be more likely to visit a city that was not trained to deal with a large scale RDD than one that is. The exercise, scheduled for Mid May, will now take part in another city – one that is more worried about security than PR...

All in the spirit of free enterprise

While it is clearly immoral to glorify criminal enterprises, it was hard not to refrain from an Office high five when this story came out. The Arab Times announced that criminals are standing between terrorists and their Allah-given rights to use CBRN devices to slaughter innocents. Apparently criminal gangs are duping Al Qaeda operatives with bogus nuclear material foiling their attempts to build a working device. The ignominy behind coming back from the Nuclear Market with (un) magic beans must be galling in the extreme – You fool, Achmed! You have done it again!

Any old iron?

In an episode reminiscent of Goiania Delhi University has been given two weeks to explain how it sold radioactive waster to a scrap metal dealer. The irradiation machine was sold to the dealer who dismantled it and received a fatal dose, now the Indian Department of Atomic Energy wants to know why – three weeks later, at time of print, an answer is still not forthcoming...

A University chemist told the BBC that radioactive waste had been dumped on campus grounds in the 1980s, and now there is a search underway to assess the validity of his claims. The Department of Atomic Energy had to scour the scrap metal districts of Delhi looking for further traces of Cobalt 60 contamination, collecting in ‘all’ pieces. Other people who were exposed to the radiation are still seriously ill in hospital. In a addendum to this incident the Indian government decided to install radiation monitors at ports and entry points as the penny dropped that this type of incident could originate from beyond India’s borders – suddenly India ‘gets it...’

Schools out... or else.

CBRNe World has previously reported on the poisoning of Afghan schoolgirls, potentially with the OP malathion, and it seems that something is happening again. On April 21 23 girls at a Konduz High School fell mysteriously ill, on the 25^th April another 13, at a different High School, became ill and on the 24^th a total of 47 fell unconscious or complained of nausea. No-one has claimed responsibility for the incident and blood samples have been taken.

The fact that no-one has claimed responsibility is curious – since the Taleban is voluble against female education and pro- chemical weapons – but clearly something is going on. We endeavour to find out more.

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