UK Armed Forces personnel will be better protected on the
battlefield through world-leading chemical detection sensors,
under an £88 million contract announced today.
Led by Strategic Command alongside a pan-defence team, thousands
of personnel across the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air
Force will benefit from wearable personal chemical agent sensors,
ensuring they can detect dozens of toxic chemical threats and
take immediate action to protect themselves and others.
It will be a first of its kind for UK Armed Forces, as the
wearable sensor will be able to detect multiple chemical threats
from both vapours and aerosol – different ways in which chemical
threats can be dispersed and affect an individual.
Under the contract, UK company Smiths Detection will develop
three next-generation chemical sensor products for the MOD, to be
operational by 2028. They are:
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Wearable personal chemical agent sensor – a device that
continually monitors the environment around the user.
-
Survey chemical agent sensor – a portable device to check
potentially hazardous areas or surfaces.
-
Remote capable, standoff chemical sensor – an enhanced sensor
for use in fixed locations.
As new hazards emerge in the future, the equipment can be
continually updated and improved, identifying a greater range of
chemical threat coverage.
Supporting hundreds of skilled people at Smiths Detection and
creating around a dozen new jobs at their Hemel Hempstead site,
the contract boosts the Prime Minister’s priority of growing the
UK economy. The company sources components and services from
numerous UK suppliers, bolstering the UK manufacturing industry,
and investing in British production capability.
Minister for Defence Procurement, said:
It’s vital we protect our Service Personnel, and this
cutting-edge technology is so important to reduce the threat
posed by toxic chemicals across a range of environments globally.
Not only is it an impressive piece of equipment that will be
designed and manufactured here in the UK, but the ability for it
to be continually developed and improved is exactly how we want
Defence procurement to be – deliverable, effective and ambitious.
Smiths Detection President, Roland Carter said:
We’re honoured to have been selected by the UK Ministry of
Defence to supply this next-generation technology. Since our
business inception, nearly 70 years ago, we have been designing,
developing, manufacturing, and servicing chemical sensing
technology. This technology protects defence forces, including
the UK MoD, and communities from known and emerging threats.
This award is testament to our leading technology and the
knowledge, commitment and ingenuity of the people in our
organisation who everyday help to make the world a safer place.
Sensing chemical threats is a fundamental part of the UK’s
Counter-Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear capability. The
contract, placed by the UK MOD’s procurement arm Defence
Equipment and Support (DE&S) and supported by the Defence
Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), will encompass the
development, manufacture, and initial in-service support for the
programme.
