Pentagon seeks chemical detection standard

As U.S. military forces prepare to better fend off potential chemical attacks, Defense officials have acknowledged they lack a standard for determining the effectiveness of chemical detection systems, and they are seeking an independent assessment to help them establish a common set of objectives for field tests.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has asked the National Academy of Sciences to study "the issues surrounding the requirements for operational testing of chemical stand-off detection technologies," the agency said this month.

"The results of this study will provide the basis for programmatic and other acquisition decisions on a number of chemical agent standoff detectors currently in the acquisition process" designed to detect chemical agents from distances ranging from five meters to 20 kilometers. Officials said that the study's findings will help determine which chemical detection technologies now being designed should be acquired in quantity and deployed in the field.

The military departments are developing a variety of new stand-off chemical detectors. They include the M21 Remote Sensing Chemical Agent Alarm (RSCAAL), an automatic infrared sensor that detects Tabun, Sarin and Soman nerve gases and H and L blister agents from as far as five kilometers; the Joint Service Lightweight Standoff Chemical Agent Detector, which can detect nerve, blister and blood agents at ranges up to five kilometers; and the Artemis system, which is mounted on a vehicle and can detect, range and map chemical warfare agents at distances up to 20 kilometers.

Standards of effectiveness for field tests of such devices will vary according to each detection system, officials said. "Testing could well depend on the technology used for detection," DTRA said.

The National Academy of Sciences study will take six months, officials said.

While U.S. military forces are already considered the best equipped in the world to operate in chemical, biological or nuclear conditions, new technologies are being pursued as the threat of chemical warfare grows. One novel idea that DTRA is pursuing involves outfitting a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle to disperse chemical detectors that can collect samples of chemical clouds or plumes.

"The probability of U.S. forces encountering chemical or biological agents during worldwide conflicts remain high," the 2001 Defense Department Chemical and Biological Defense Program annual report to Congress says. "An effective defense reduces the probability of a chemical or biological attack, and if an attack occurs, it enables U.S. forces to survive, continue operations and win."