SIDEBAR

March 2006

Defense Contractors Exhibit Anti-WMD Gear

More than 80 companies flocked to a recent U.S. Special Operations Command conference in Tampa, Fla., to show off their newest technology designed to help counter weapons-of-mass-destruction attacks. Some examples:

• The Global Defender blast mitigation unit, made by Raytheon Technical Services Company, of Indianapolis, Ind., is a self-contained, remotely operated, portable system intended to suppress and contain the kinds of radiological agents released by a dirty bomb, explained Program Manager Bob Plummer. The system uses a self-opening enclosure that fills with a foam, covering and smothering the explosive device.

“This will contain the explosive totally enabling [hazardous materials] teams to come in and deal with it,” Plummer said. The Global Defender comes in three versions, one fitting on a small cart, another transported in a trailer and a third combination package including both the cart and trailer.

• The Chemical and Radiological Contamination Simulant Kit, offered by Clean Earth Technologies LLC, of Earth City, Mo., is a prototype of a training aid meant for use by hazmat teams and first responders. The kit—which becomes available this month—consists of chemical and radiological simulants, together with a flashlight using liquid emitting diode ultraviolet black light technology, in a carrying case.

“The flashlight allows users to see simulated contamination,” said Fred Love Jr., CET’s sales and marketing director. “That makes it a lot more realistic than traditional training methods. All they do is put a tag on people and say, ‘You’ve been hit.’”

• OFRO + detect is a tread-driven reconnaissance robot produced by Germany’s Robowatch Technologies GMBH. It detects all current tactical gases, as well as toxic industrial fumes, said Axel Von Borstell, the company’s international sales director.

OFRO + detect has an integrated thermal camera system, which can operate in any kind of weather and rotate 360 degrees, he explained. It can transmit the type and concentration of the detected gas and simultaneously deliver a video recording of the incident location to a control unit, he added.

• Two companies—Concurrent Technologies Corporation, of Johnstown, Pa., and Signature Science LLC, of Austin, Texas—exhibited bomb-sniffing dogs. “The dog is the most advanced sensor we have,” said George Heib, manager of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear explosives force-protection projects for CTC. “A dog can hold a scent for up to four months. You can imprint any scent of it, and it will find it every time.”

CTC trains its dogs to operate off the leash. “The handler can distract the dog, Heib said. I have seen traditional search dogs pulled off a scent because the handler was interested in something else.

Signature Science trains its dogs to detect scents related to chemical and biological weapons, such as nerve and blister agents, botulinum toxin, anthrax and ricin, said Dawn Rumuly, one of the company’s handler-instructors. The firm chose those scents “because they pose the highest risk,” she said.

-Harold Kennedy

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