European Defence Agency launches project for countering road-side bombs

European Defence Ministers have decided to cooperate on a deployable field laboratory for forensic research of road-side bomb explosions. The capability will be operational by mid- 2011. France will act as the lead nation. The decision was taken today in the EDA Ministerial Steering Board meeting, which took place in Luxembourg. It was the first time that the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in her capacity as Head of the Agency chaired the Steering Board.

Countering Improvised Explosive Devices (Counter-IED) is one of the twelve capability priorities, based on the Agency’s Capability Development Plan. Road-side bombs and other IEDs are killer number one to deployed forces in crisis management operations. The Deployable Level 2 Exploitation Capability is a mobile laboratory, enabling forensic analysis of IED incidents in order to develop means to prevent further attacks. The laboratory will be tested in a real operational environment and the results will be shared with all EDA participating Member States.

“Road-side bombs threaten European forces day-after-day. This deployable capability is a direct contribution to counter the dangers of Improvise Explosive Devices. It shows that the Agency is delivering concrete results”, said the Head of the Agency, Catherine Ashton. Defence Ministers also launched a Research and Technology programme on Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) protection. This R&T programme is the Agency’s first contribution to the European Framework Cooperation initiative for systematically ensuring civil-military synergies in research, conducted by the EDA, the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA). Research will focus on second and third generation CBRN protection capabilities, to be operational beyond 2015. Proposed topics could cover Detection & Identification, Decontamination and Medical Countermeasures. EDA has also been tasked to prepare a research programme in the area of Unmanned Aerial Systems and to investigate and prepare technical scope in the area of Situation Awareness, together with the Commission and ESA.

“CBRN protection is a logical first choice for coordinated civil-military research, as both civilians and military are equally exposed to the terrible effects of chemical, biological and other threats”, the EDA Chief Executive, Alexander Weis, said.