Marines begin upgrade of Smiths Detection spectroscopic chemical identifiers

Aug. 31, 2010

Danbury, CT--The U.S. Marine Corps will begin installing the Smiths Detection HazMatID 360 upgrade to their fleet of spectroscopy based chemical detectors.

Gail Overton

Danbury, CT--Smiths Detection announced that the U.S. Marine Corps will shortly begin installing the company’s HazMatID 360 upgrade to their fleet of spectroscopy based chemical detectors as part of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Assessment and Consequence Management (MAGTF ACM) Program for chemical agent identification systems. The spectroscopic upgrade cost-effectively maximizes system capabilities and performance.

Smiths Detection’s HazMatID is a ruggedized spectroscopic device that provides comprehensive in-field analysis and identification of unknown solids, gels, and liquids. It enables HazMat teams, military personnel, and emergency responders to quickly identify potential chemical threats and make decisive life-saving decisions in response.

Bob Bohn, VP of Sales, the Americas, Smiths Detection, said, "With thousands of HazMatID systems in use across the world, the 360 upgrade allows current users to update their capabilities of in-field threat identification without having to retrain personnel or purchase additional equipment. In this time of fiscal responsibility, the Marine Corps will be updating its chemical detection technology and also maximizing previous investments."

The upgrade includes optimized mixture algorithms, larger substance libraries, chemical hazard classification for not-in-library substances, easy-to-connect Bluetooth wireless communications, and integrated PEAC-WMD software by AristaTek providing critical information management and decision support.

SOURCE: Smiths Detection; www.smithsdetection.com/1025_5448.php

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.