Military CBRN team

Current international events underscore a fundamental reality: there is no such thing as zero risk. The Chemical, biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) threat has not disappeared over time. Constantly evolving, it has even diversified and amplified, constituting a highly credible risk in today’s political landscape. To counter this protean danger, military and first response teams need the best monitoring and detection equipment available on the market, to sound the alarm and take appropriate countermeasures.

Although the CBRN threat has represented a real challenge in numerous historical and modern conflicts, it is only in the last ten years or so that we have seen an upsurge of it, making it a major strategic issue. The worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 and the accident at the Lubrizol plant in the Rouen region, France, have made this a major concern for our national resilience. Upcoming major events such as the Olympic Games will exacerbate this risk. Taken together, these trends justify the need to strengthen defense capabilities to counter the threat, using sensitive, high-performance monitoring, detection and identification equipment. The fight against CBRN threats has been taken into consideration by the government and revolves around optimized defense capabilities designed to guarantee the execution of missions and the protection of deployed forces. Whatever the CBRN event, whether suspected or proven, these forces must be equipped with easy-to-use technologies adapted to operations and emergency scenarios. The forces must be ready to remove any doubt about the presence of CBRN agents and manage the risks as effectively as possible. The objective is to be as resilient as possible, and the first step of all is to detect and identify the threat.

That is why Bertin Technologies, with its comprehensive range of portable instruments, covers the entire CBRN spectrum, and thus contributes to national resilience in the face of internal and external conflicts, technological accidents, or acts of terrorism and bioterrorism. Bertin Technologies, through its subsidiary Bertin Environics, offers reliable, high-performance detection, identification, measurement and surveillance solutions to improve real-time situational awareness and tactical and operational decision-making. Among them:

C. Designed by Bertin Environics, a Finnish subsidiary of Bertin Technologies, ChemProX is a portable early warning device for monitoring, detecting and classifying CWAs (Chemical Warfare Agents) and TICs (Toxic Industrial Components). Featuring an intuitive interface, ChemProX is equipped with a wireless communication network and GPS, enabling members of the same unit to share information and geolocation, both with each other and with the command post. In addition, ChemProX displays trends in real time, alerting the operator to areas with high concentrations of chemical gas, even before alarm levels are reached. Warned of the risks involved, the operator can take all the necessary measures to ensure his own safety and that of others, and then pursue his mission. ChemproX can be integrated into all types of third-party platforms, whether autonomous or manned, and its capabilities can be deported to protect the operator in the event of a CBRN incident.

Second Sight MS is a standoff gas cloud detector. Featuring a database of 50 different gases, this state-of-the-art long-range camera can detect and identify Toxic Industrial Components (TIC) and Chemical Warfare Agents (CWA) up to 5 km. The Second Sight MS stands out for its ability to detect unknown, impure or mixed gases, whether or not they are listed in the database. This early warning system is used by military forces around the world, as well as by law enforcement and first responders, who can use it to prevent future threats, protect and secure critical infrastructures and carry out emergency interventions with complete confidence, without jeopardizing the teams deployed.

B. As the first player in the detection chain, Coriolis Compact is a portable air sampler with dry cyclonic technology. Its robustness, compact size and 8-hour battery life make it the ultimate all-terrain air sampler. Its dry cyclonic technology enables it to collect ultra-concentrated samples of biological agents. The particles thus collected by Coriolis Compact are compatible with the most common analysis methods, giving highly sensitive results in just a few hours.

RN. SaphyRAD MS is a multiprobe survey meter specially designed to meet the operational needs of the armed forces, first responders, specialist teams and civil security personnel. With its rugged casing and ergonomic interface (large buttons, LCD colour screen with automatic backlighting), the SaphyRAD MS can be easily used in personal protective clothing by non-specialized operators. This versatile instrument is ideal for monitoring personal exposure (dose and dose rate), as well as detecting and measuring radioactive contamination on victims and military personnel, first responders and HAZMAT teams. Its wide range of intelligent probes also enables it to detect and measure alpha, beta, gamma, neutron and X-ray radiation in harsh environments. Moreover, the identification probe enables users to identify the source of radiation emissions with certainty. The SaphyRAD MS survey meter can also be integrated into any type of third-party land or naval platform, whether autonomous or manned, enabling detection to be deployed as close as possible to the threat, while limiting user exposure to ionizing radiation in dangerous or difficult-to-access areas.

Bertin Technologies also provided on-demand systems, for integration into light or armored vehicles, naval and maritime vessels, as well as critical infrastructures, to cover the full spectrum of CBRN threats.