Frederick, Md. – A group of senior leaders responsible for carrying out national disasters responses were recently shown the latest capabilities for responding to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) events. On November 30, personnel from the Joint Program Executive Office for CBRN Defense along with the Air Force CBRN Defense Systems Branch and the Uniformed Services University’s 4DBio Program demonstrated current and future CBRN defense capabilities to a senior leadership team comprised of representatives from the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Security Council’s Office for Resilience and Response, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and additional domestic emergency response organizations. The intent of the demonstration was to showcase the capabilities and expertise that the Defense Department has to augment an “all-of-government” response to a domestic chemical or biological incident, and catalyze the creation of the requirements that can help modernize and enhance current domestic response capabilities.
The group of DoD representatives presented two systems from the Joint Expeditionary Collective Protection Family of Systems -- the Stand Alone Large and Structure Kit Improved – and showed individual protective equipment such as masks, gloves, chem-bio suits worn over or under clothing, and equipment for breathing safely in contaminated areas. The AF CBRN Defense Systems Branch showcased the advanced technical demonstration Collective Protection Conex (CPC), and together with 4DBio showcased a suite of threat-agnostic sensors to include the Non-Invasive Rapid Detection System (NIRDS), physiological monitoring devices and additional sensors to detect changes in biological performance.
Lt. Col. Paul Hendrickson, Materiel Leader for the AF CBRN Defense Systems Branch, part of the Air Force’s Program Executive Office for Agile Combat Support, said, “This event was a phenomenal opportunity to highlight to national leadership the unique capabilities the Department of Defense has today to protect our forces in a chem-bio environment. We want to push the future faster by highlighting novel and cross-cutting advanced technology demonstrations aimed at accelerating change to provide capabilities at the speed of relevance.”
The outcome of the demonstrations will further the requirements generation and overall posture moving forward to strengthen the U.S.’s domestic response as well and grow new partnerships within the CBRN defense community, both at home and abroad.