meeting the operational needs of the Joint Force
The Seventh Joint Conference on Standoff Detection for Chemical and Biological Defense is being organized by the Joint Science and Technology Office in cooperation with the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense, Joint Requirements Office, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps and other CB organizations.
The overall objective of the conference is to bring together operational and material developers and practitioners for a review of the state-of-the-art science and technology of chemical and biological (CB) standoff detection/identification and related activities. The results of this conference, along with critical CB standoff detection assessments currently being conducted by the Joint Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Defense community, will serve as the basis of a comprehensive Joint Department of Defense program strategy for the development of the next generation of CB detection standoff system concepts.
The conference will address technologies, programs and issues related to meeting the operational needs of the Joint Services with special emphasis on testing.
Specifically, the warfighter requires an early warning capability that provides the Joint Force Commanders the ability to detect and identify, at a distance, the presence of a chemical or biological agent cloud before it impacts operational forces within the battle space. These threats include the standard chemical and biological warfare threat agents and identified emerging threat agents as well as Toxic Industrial Materials (TIM). This early warning capability is critical in order to allow sufficient warning time for at-risk personnel to take appropriate protective measures and for medical units to initiate appropriate decision-making activities. Ultimately, the warfighter requires an integrated chemical and biological early warning capability. Integrating these capabilities will provide for simultaneous detection of all threat hazards while greatly simplifying operational deployment, employment and sustainment activities.
In addition, the warfighter requires the capability to sustain mission operational tempo through timely reconnaissance and monitoring activities to detect and identify chemical and biological contamination on the surfaces of mission essential equipment, facilities and terrain.
Standoff detection and identification technologies offer a potential solution to the chemical and biological Early Warning and Sensor Integration needs of the Joint Services within the context of specified operational scenarios. Likewise, standoff technologies may also be applicable to meeting warfighter chemical and biological reconnaissance and monitoring needs. While reliable performance of standoff detection technologies is paramount, the eventual supportability of any technology should be considered throughout the technology development process since any fielded system concept must ultimately be operated and sustained within the constraints of the Joint Force logistics system.
The conference is UNCLASSIFIED. Attendees will include government (military and civilian), academia and industry representatives.
This is a technical conference with presentations of invited and contributed papers. Participants are reminded that although this meeting is organized and hosted by a government entity, it should be regarded as an open exchange forum similar to other technical conferences.
