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$1 Billion for US Chemical, Biological Defense Work

By on Thursday, May 7th, 2009

NEWTOWN, Conn: The U.S. Department of Defense will continue to support the advancement of technology to detect and identify chemical and biological attacks well into the next decade. To a large part, research, testing, and evaluation of the technologies that will form the Joint Biological Standoff Detection System (JBSDS) and other supporting systems will be leading the way.

Full-rate production of the finished product will follow - if all goes according to plan - by early next decade. The final JBSDS will be designed for fixed sites or mounting to a variety of platforms and will be capable of detecting biological weapon attacks in near-real time.

The Pentagon sees JBSDS as just one aspect of a much larger network of biological detection systems that will be adapted to every service in a wide variety of applications. The role of JBSDS will be to augment and integrate with these various other systems. Prime contractor Science & Engineering Services Inc stated that as many as 1,500 systems would ultimately be produced for the joint services.

RDT&E related to creation of the ultimate version of JBSDS is in large part a function of the Chemical/ Biological Defense System Development and Demonstration (SDD) program. In the FY09 defense budget, some $1.311 billion has been allocated for the program from 2009 through 2013.

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