SUMMARY
Defence against Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) threats is of utmost importance for the protection of forces in theatre as well as citizens in the homeland. The European Defence Agency has developed activities aimed at strengthening European armed forces' capability to safely operate in a CBRN environment while contribution to civilian-led crisis response operations if needed. Notably, a Joint Investment Programme (JIP) gathering Member States and industry was launched in 2010 with a view to stimulate research & technology work in the CBRN field.
Goals
- OStimulate and coordinate European research in the field of CBRN
- Identify critical technologies for future CBRN equipment and solutions
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
CBRN was one of the first topics to be addressed in the context of the European Framework Cooperation (EFC) set up between the European Commission and the European Defence Agency in order to maximise synergies between civilian, space and defence-related research efforts.
The EDA's contribution to this effort is a Joint Investment Programme (JIP CBRN) with a centrally-managed budget funded by all contributing Members. This EDA Category A programme is overseen by a Management Committee including a representative from each contributing Member and chaired by the Agency. The Management Committee decides on the technological content and selection of the proposals as well as project management and results dissemination.
The JIP CBRN was formally established in Spring 2010 by the EDA Steering Board. A programme arrangement was signed in March 2012, and two calls for projects were launched in 2012 and 2013. 14 projects were selected and have been finalised.
Twelve EU Member States as well as Norway contributed to the JIP CBRN, with an allocated ad hoc budget of €12 million.
The R&T projects as part of the JIP CBRN addressed the following shortfalls:
- stand-off detection C threats
- point detection B threats
- mixed CBRN samples handling
- modelling and simulation of CBRN architectures
- decontamination management
- sensor networking for CBRN
- protection equipment.