Commander Patrick Allen Becker, US Navy (Ret.), of Lorton, VA, was born in Homestead, Florida in 1971 and moved to the Dallas, Texas area in 1973. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1993 with a degree in physics and married his true love and high school sweetheart, Kathryn Ward, a week later. Patrick was selected for the US Navy Nuclear Officer Program in 1991, and earned his commission in 1994.  He served in the US Navy for 24 years, to include submarine service on the USS Wyoming, USS Boise, and the USS Helena. He retired in 2015 after 24 years of [...]

The UK Government has today released its long awaited new Pandemic Preparedness Strategy. The new strategy outlines how the UK intends to rebuild readiness for future pandemics through a whole-of-government approach that prioritises the needs of the most vulnerable. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pandemic-preparedness-strategy-building-our-capabilities    [...]

Originally published by City of Charlotte. It doesn’t look all that different at first glance. Bright red. Clean lines. Another specialized vehicle in a fleet built to handle anything.  But inside Charlotte Fire’s HM-FS 34, the difference is immediate.  This is not just a truck. It is a controlled environment. A mobile laboratory. A place where unknown hazards are no longer mysteries left to time and distance, but problems that can be analyzed in real time, with precision and purpose.  For a department that operates as an all hazards agency, the arrival of a field screening unit like HM-FS 34 [...]

Milrem Robotics, the world’s leading developer of robotics and autonomous systems, and Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (PGZ), Poland’s largest defence industry group, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore potential areas of collaboration and bolster strategic defence relations between Estonia, Poland, and Central & Eastern Europe. Under the agreement, Milrem Robotics and PGZ will work together to accelerate the development of advanced defence technologies by leveraging each other’s expertise, industrial capabilities, and technological resources. One focus area includes payload integration on unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), supporting the rapid adaptation of innovative systems to meet evolving operational requirements.  The cooperation [...]

As reported in Defcros News, the French CBRN giant, KNDS, has landed some PPE and decon contracts. The first of these is that DGA has finalized the procurement of the prototypes of the TGM48 gas mask (subscribers to the Directory can find more information on it here - https://cbrneworld.com/directory/products/respirators/frgm48) On the decon front they had wins for two models, the ESSENTIAL DECON L-01 and the ESSENTIAL DECON S-04. The L-01 is a 'high-capacity, autonomous decontamination unit operates on a mobile platform capable of servicing vehicles and infrastructure. By early 2028, the French Army plans to deploy 21 L-01 units to [...]

Originally published by France24 Israeli planes sprayed chemicals on farmland in Quneitra, Syria in late January and early February, 2026. Farmers say that their crops yellowed and died in just a few days and that they lost dozens of hectares of farmland. There have been similar reports of the Israeli Army spraying fields in southern Lebanon and of Israeli settlers doing the same in the West Bank.  Several photos and videos sent to the FRANCE 24 Observers team show Israeli planes flying at a low altitude over agricultural zones in the governorate of Quneitra in southern Syria. In some of the footage, a [...]

Kromek, the leading developer of radiation detection technology and Argon Electronics, the foremost manufacturer of CBRN simulation systems, have collaborated to develop a dedicated simulator module for Kromek’s ground-breaking D5 RIID hand-held device. This new capability enables operators to conduct high-fidelity radiological search exercises without the need for live radiological sources, enhancing training realism while improving safety, accessibility, and operational readiness. Based upon patented RaFTS spectrometry simulation technology developed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) which is exclusively licensed to Argon, the simulator module will allow D5 RIID users to temporarily convert their operational detector for training use to [...]