EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE FORCE
ONSITE OPS
A mobile laboratory on a field mission at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, in support of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers field response operation. Having the laboratory onsite accelerates the confirmation testing process during chemical agent destruction operations. (Photo by Dennis Dickson, DEVCOM CBC)
with simulants and, ultimately, live agent in a specially designed DEVCOM CBC testing chamber. Te development team hopes to see it available for use by warfight- ers in 2026. Te project is being funded by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secre- tary of Defense for Treat Reduction and Arms Control.
DEVCOM CBC’s program manager for the system, Janson Stoltzfus, sees this as a big benefit to the warfighter. “A thermite bag reduces the logistical burden on Soldiers when compared with current destruction methods. It is much lighter, more compact and easier to deploy. It will be a powerful tool in the commander’s suite of chemical agent defeat capabilities.”
CONCLUSION The greatest success of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) of 1993, signed by 193 nations, is that it led to the destruction of the world’s large stock- piles by those signatory nations. Tey were destroyed under the direction of the OPCW, which was created by the CWC. It performed regular inspections during
destruction and confirmed final destruc- tion. What the world faces now is the illicit production of chemical agent by rogue nations and non-state actors.
DEVCOM CBC is addressing the new threat by making agent destruction tech- nology smaller and thereby easier to transport, set up, operate and remove. By replacing the large brick and mortar destruction facilities of the 1990s and early 2000s with highly portable destruc- tion systems, field response teams such as CBARR can, in effect, make house calls. Some of those house calls are to harsh and barren locations where providing the logistics for a larger system would be impossible.
Te scientists and engineers of DEVCOM CBC who are advancing and operating this technology are proud of the contribution they are making to the world. DEVCOM CBC Director Michael Bailey shares in that pride. “Te men and women who design, construct and operate these minia- ture agent destruction systems are making the world a safer place and demonstrating
https://asc.ar my.mil 31
that the United States is a force for good in the world.”
For more information, go to https://
www.cbc.devcom.army.mil.
BRIAN B. FEENEY, PH.D., is a public affairs specialist at DEVCOM CBC where he writes news and feature stories on the science and engineering achievements of the center’s researchers. He has written for the center since 2014. He holds a Ph.D. in risk communication from Temple University, an M.A. in communications from Cornell University and a B.A. in history from Colorado College.
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