PRODUCT WATCH
Shorts Radiation Shield Technologies (RST) is pleased to announce that the Demron® Class 2 Full Body Suit is ISO 8194:1987 compliant.
CRISTANINI S.p.A have updated their popular SX34 products portfolio of approvals and tests.
CRISTANINI S.p.A’s BX24 has passed testing, approving it for decontamination of vehicles prior to international redeployment.
1st Detect deliver their first pre- production, mini-mass spectrometers to select customers for evaluation. The product was developed from technology for the International Space Station.
Can you smell what the JPEO-CA are cooking? Widely rumored to be the main effort left in advancing detection technologies in the US, the Multi- Mission Multi-Threat Detection (M3TD) program has finally made its awards. The response to the call was overwhelming, with a series of main technology categories such as IMS and IR, and one catch-all ‘other’ for overlooked technologies. Money was directed towards the following projects: IMS - five; Raman - four; Mass Spec - four; IR - two; Other - three projects awarded No real surprises at the focus on
IMS, Raman and MS, but really good to see the high number of projects awarded to other technologies. This shows, hopefully, an open mind to new technologies and solutions. The companies winning the money are also not a huge surprise, other than Thales Defence and Security Inc. Thales, well known for its work in CBRN systems within Europe, has never had much success in CBRN beyond Europe, despite its international footprint. This explosion into the sensor arena in a hotly contested competition is fascinating, though we may never know what they, or the other companies, are offering. For those interested in the names and the money: ANP TECHNOLOGIES, INC - $122.6K AGENTASE - $98.8K CHEMRING - $220K, $245.5K BLOCK MEMS - $498.1K SMITHS DETECTION - $350.2K, $415.7K $350.3K CHARLES STARK DRAPER LAB - $506.2K HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND - $608.1K NOMADICS, INC - $256.4K GRIFFIN ANALYTICAL - $216K
AHURA SCIENTIFIC - $266.8K, $335.9K NORTHROP GRUMMAN - $982.3K SESI - $599.6K
THALES USA DEFENSE - $572.3K CHEM IMAGE BIO THREAT - $387.4K (Agentase, Nomadics, Griffin are all part of FLIR)
Defence group vector in on product improvements Defense Group, Inc. (DGI) has signed a strategic reseller agreement with TrueVector Technologies. This will include their drawing solution as part of its CoBRA® WEB Mapping within the CoBRA Crisis Management and Emergency Response business unit. The applications for CoBRA® WEB mapping are numerous. Users can draw and mark-up incident information from anywhere.
Everyone needs a GUARDION angel? Smiths hope so. Smiths Detection has partnered with Torion Technologies (American Fork, UT) to produce a miniaturised, ruggedised, GC/MS GUARDION. A newly established GC/MS Center of Excellence at Smiths Detection’s Danbury, CT, facility includes an integrated team of engineers, researchers, manufacturing and product managers, who contributed to the innovation behind GUARDION. The system was part funded by TSWG, and has been (literally) under the counter at a number of trade shows (thankfully eagle eyed Editors can see through table cloths) and was ‘unveiled’ at Hotzone in Houston last November. Smiths say it can process gases, vapors, liquids and solids, yet currently is lacking a probe. What impact this will have for it in a market that was slowing for Inficon (as they reached market saturation), and with stiff competition from Bruker and FLIR, is uncertain.
USAMRIID face pricey cab fare… Lockheed Martin (LM) was recently awarded a six-year, $66 million contract to assist in moving the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases into new laboratory space at Fort Detrick, Maryland. The new 810,000 sq. ft. building cost approximately $683 million and has been under construction since August 2009. When fully completed, the facility will contain more than 17,000 sq. ft. of biosafety, Level-4 lab space and 34,000 sq. ft. of biosafety, Level-3 space. It’s a great, new capability for USAMRIID but also one that has faced a few concerns over the level of spending on bio-labs, which are
springing up everywhere. There will also be a lot of pressure on LM to keep it smooth as any setback in research for USAMRIID, with so much competition from National Labs and other facilities, could hamper its access to future funding.
Bailiffs stand down as US budget finally agreed The National Defense Authorization Act has finally been signed into law, with only moderate cuts to the Chemical and Biological Defense Program of five percent, from nearly $1.2 billion to $1.14 billion. In addition, a $50 million cut was made following a delay in a proposal for the much maligned, often unfairly, Medical Countermeasures Initiative and a $24 million reduction was made to the Bioscavenger program. $633 million will be used for the purchase of 100 Stryker CBRN reconnaissance vehicles outfitted to detect nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
Doctor calling The Center for Biosecurity recently announced the launch of its Clinicians’ Biosecurity Resource app for the iPhone. It neatly complements the chemical and radiological medical management tools produced by the National Institute of Health - just Google CHEMM and REMM.
Native Indian procurement The Indian armed forces recently began outfitting units with CBRN kit. The Indian Defense Research and Development Organisation intends to purchase or produce nerve agent detectors, dosimeters, portable gas chromatographs, autoject injectors, integrated field shelters, respiratory equipment, roentgenometers and decontamination systems. They state that 85% of their NBC inventory has been developed by DRDO, a pretty impressive claim that few other countries could match, although quite how much salt these statistics need to be taken with is unknown at this stage.
Didn’t we want some of those? The U.S. Army’s 2nd Combat Aviation ‘Talon’ Brigade recently became the first army unit equipped with the new Joint Protective Aircrew Ensemble chemical and biological weapon gear. Rather annoying one must imagine for the UK, that has made something of a meal of its own programme. We’ve offered the UK the chance to say how well their programme is going for 12 months now. Unfortunately nothing has been forthcoming, other than the amount of scaling back that has gone on.
www.cbrneworld.com CBRNe South America 2012, 13-14 March, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. More information on
www.icbrnevents.com
February 2012 CBRNe WORLD
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