Chemical and Biological Defense Program

Develop disruptive technologies to identify unknown or emerging threats and develop sensors that can operate in complex threat environments with high fidelity. This thrust area supports others as appropriate to the Joint Force mission needs (e.g., expeditionary, perimeter defense, or unmanned reconnaissance).

Equipment Decontamination develops decontaminant systems, formulations, and procedures that reduce or eliminate residual contamination hazards; enable decentralized unit-level decontamination with rapid unmasking; reduce manpower and logistics (e.g., water) needed to accomplish the task; enable rapid sorting of clean from dirty to rapidly return high-value equipment to normal, unprotected use; develop improved realistic test methods.

Enhanced Survivability Coatings creates military equipment coatings that make equipment easier to decontaminate. Develops and optimizes test methods, temporary equipment coatings, and other approaches that resist chemical agent absorption and are quickly decontaminated in the field for rapid reduction in Mission-Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) and return to mission. Temporary coatings are intended to last longer than six months, up to the lifetime of the underlying coating.

This thrust area will develop a suite of modernized detection technologies for traditional chemical threats while enhancing capabilities for non-traditional, emerging, and mixed chemical hazards. Furthermore, this thrust area will miniaturize high-fidelity identification instruments for field use on objective to minimize warfighter burden, reduced time on target and time in protective equipment, and help keep the warfighter ahead of traditional and emerging threats in complex chemical environments.

This thrust area will mature and miniaturize chemical threat sensing and sampling technologies for distributed and networked detection systems beyond the warfighter’s line of sight to distance the Warfighter from the chemical threat and support early warning of chemical threats for fixed site, reconnaissance, and maneuver operations . Furthermore, the thrust area will provide capabilities for the full spectrum of missions and threats with rugged, low-cost point sensors and automated technologies.

Provide innovative and integrated capabilities to the warfighter that are able to diagnose threats across the chemical spectrum. Enhance force protection by investing in diagnostics for exposure to traditional and nontraditional Chemical Warfare Agents (CWAs), including pharmaceutical based agents (PBAs). Leverage the development of a chemical diagnostic that monitors blood, indicating whether a warfighter has been exposed to nerve agents within minutes.

Rapid diagnostics enables the use of medical countermeasures (MCMs) to save warfighters’ lives and minimize the impact chemical and biological threats have on Joint Force operations. Operational Diagnostics is investing in far-forward, point of care medical diagnostics to support the Joint Force’s concepts of operations in priority theaters. It is also focused on producing platforms that can test for a wide variety of chemical and biological threats, including new and emerging ones.

Develop novel, state of the art capabilities that lay the foundation for modernizing other areas within the diagnostics portfolio. This includes exploiting areas such as synthetic biology and chemistry to develop novel and rapid diagnostics for unknown threat. By leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning, this thrust area aims to develop tests for new and emerging threats in days instead of weeks. This will allow the Joint Force to fight through initial exposure to novel threats.

To address the proliferation of potential CB threats, Emerging Threats invests in technologies that can provide actionable information on various characteristics of novel threats even before the threat is known. This works in conjunction with threat-agnostic medical countermeasures to allow the Joint Force to fight through initial exposure to novel threats before they are characterized as part of the new Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) Medical Countermeasures (MCM) approach.

Aims to enhance situational awareness against potential biological hazards by developing monitoring solutions to provide continuous, synchronous information of the operational environment and dynamic threat landscape. Capabilities developed here will focus on autonomy and improved accuracy and reliance that decreases operational burden to the warfighter.

This thrust area invests in breakthrough technology to improve wearable device-based early warning capabilities by conducting data collection trials to support algorithm development; leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to identify key indicators of exposure, combinations of indicators, and sensing modalities; and exploring alternative methods for non-invasive early warning of chemical and biological (CB) exposure. This will reduce false alarms and strengthen predictions of potential CB exposure—including emerging threats. This thrust area will enable the ability to achieve CB information dominance and make hard decisions easier.

In order to achieve chemical and biological (CB) information dominance and unencumber the warfighter at the tactical edge, efforts continue to develop and transition science & technology (S&T) for CB Defense Decision Aids on end user devices (EUDs) in both connected and disconnected operations by leveraging increased automation, reducing the burden experienced by the warfighter, and providing accurate, actionable information.

Understanding how various chemical and biological (CB) threats—both traditional and emerging—interact with the environment and impact the human body is essential to support CB information dominance and enables the Joint Force to operate effectively in a CB-contested environment. Leveraging data from other science and technology (S&T) programs, CB Defense Situational Awareness creates forecasting models and hazard assessments to provide warfighters with optimal situational awareness in these environments. This thrust area is also exploiting advances in eXtended Reality (XR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) to provide warfighters with an immersive environment for realistic training and mission rehearsal opportunities and will explore the development of a digital human representation.

This effort will focus on Assay Development and Delivery Pipeline, Expand Biological Artificial Intelligence for Diagnostics (BioAID) efforts as well as developing novel, state of the art capabilities that lay the foundation for modernizing other areas within the diagnostics portfolio. Investments in diagnostic tests will enable the delivery of accelerated assay development timelines and optimized test parameters through leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to allow us to quickly pivot and develop assays for emerging threats and speed up development to days instead of weeks.

This effort will focus on Novel Non-Invasive Screening and Characterization. It will push beyond the boundaries of the traditional threat list in the field of diagnostics to better prepare for surprise. Development of diagnostic systems that leverage novel approaches to characterize pathogen or host response and can identify the classification of threat (e.g., bacterial vs viral) from an unknown sample. Investments in diagnostic tests will enable the delivery of actionable information, such as administering the appropriate medical countermeasure (e.g. antibiotic, antiviral, vaccine), at the lowest roles of care greatly improves turnaround time for soldier wellness and return to duty).

Employment characterization provides the Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) with the data necessary to achieve information dominance enabling capability development by refining threat assessments and potential impacts of indoor or outdoor releases of threat agents on CBDP operations, strategy, and capabilities. This is accomplished by examining current and emerging technologies through the lens of adversarial exploitation and informing potential gaps in chemical biological defensive capabilities. The data from these efforts then feeds into auxiliary efforts designed to reduce defensive risk identified under this effort.

Environmental response provides the Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) with the data necessary to achieve information dominance and underpins capability development by providing critical agent characteristics to support hazard mitigation, hazard models, and operational decision making. This is accomplished by evaluating the behavior of CB threats in the environment (e.g. persistence, degradation, decomposition), along with the effects of environmental conditions (e.g. ozone, ultraviolet (UV), humidity, etc.) on those agents.

First Look delivers the Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) with the data necessary to achieve information dominance and underpins capability development by providing initial characterization of potential Chemical Biological (CB) threats and a fundamental assessment of the potential risk they pose (including complexity of accessibility, infectivity assessments and initial pathology/toxicology screening) It also includes the development of agnostic methods and capabilities to rapidly and accurately characterize the properties of chemical, biological, and toxin threat agents.

Host Response provides the Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) with the data necessary to achieve information dominance and underpins capability development by characterizing the effects from exposure to toxic or infectious for chemical and biological (CB) threat agents using operationally relevant exposure scenarios/exposure routes and appropriate assessment methods and models. This supports medical and physical countermeasure development, diagnostic opportunities, health effects models, and operational decision making.

Developing capability to warn and inform the Joint Force of operationally-relevant threat utilizing sampling and sensing payloads on manned and unmanned systems (e.g. unmanned aerial systems (UAS), unmanned ground systems (UGS)). Point sensors on manned and unmanned assets will remotely sense threats relevant to mission environment at presumptive echelon of Integrated Layered Defense and Integrated Early Warning.

The Operational Biological Sensing Thrust Area aims to inform and alert the warfighter of biological hazards they may encounter in an operational setting, including technologies to support field-confirmatory and theater-level validation to support Joint Force operational concepts. This thrust area continues to develop fieldable technologies capable of collecting and detecting biological hazards in the battlespace.

Establish a capability to rapidly develop advanced, agile, pathogen-agnostic laboratory and field forward detection capabilities to detect emerging and enhanced biological threats across different Joint Force Operational Concepts and Force Postures. Further investments will be used to modernize laboratory capabilities and tools to deliver enhanced biothreat sensing/detection capabilities to the Joint Force.

Develops disruptive technologies to identify unknown or emerging biological threats as well as sensors that can operate in complex threat environments with high accuracy. Efforts in this area pursue a “fail fast” approach, with promising technologies transferred to other thrust areas/budget lines for further development.

Develops disruptive technologies to identify unknown or emerging chemical threats as well as sensors that can operate in complex threat environments with high accuracy. Efforts in this area pursue a “fail fast” approach, with promising technologies transferred to other thrust areas/budget lines for further development. This thrust area will also explore utilizing machine learning and other advanced computational tools to increase detection and identification accuracy, reduce false alarms, and enable mapping of hazardous locations to support Integrated Early Warning (IEW) capabilities.

Establish a layered defense capability by developing and implementing automated and integrated technologies enabling unattended monitoring for chemical threats. These technologies will provide early warning of vapor, aerosol, solid, and liquid hazards and unencumber the warfighter by reducing logistics and operator burden. Providing a reliable detect-to-warn capability at fixed or expeditionary sites will enhance the overall protective posture of ground and maneuver forces as robust technologies can be miniaturized for portability and operational sustainment.

Provide general and specialized forces with modernized detection technologies for traditional threats while enhancing detection capabilities for non-traditional, emerging, and mixed chemical hazards to inform personal protection and reduced time on target.

Technical surprise provides the Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) with the data necessary to achieve information dominance and enables capability development by assessing technological advancements for potential implications on threat agent use and release. Threat Agent Science develops and utilizes advanced horizon scanning technologies to monitor new technologies and identify areas of potential concern, including those that can improve our chemical and biological (CB) defenses.

The Technical Surprise Enhanced Biological Defense investments augment chemical and biological (CB) defense capabilities by adopting state of the art synthetic biology tools, enhancing methods development and characterizing host responses via multiomics. Technical Surprise ENBD augments the capabilities to assess pathogenesis/transmissibility, to characterize the full spectrum of emerging biothreats, and to conduct signature assessments to accelerate threat understanding. This provides the Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) with the data and tools necessary to achieve information dominance.

This area will enhance the responsiveness of underpinning technical threat/hazard information and characteristics for the Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) enterprise through the development and implementation of improved data access and retrieval capabilities. This will ultimately provide the CBDP with chemical and biological (CB) information dominance through better support for operational decision makers, capability developers, and requirements generators, and guide CBDP risk assessments and prioritization.

Medical countermeasure (MCM) strategies against broader classes of biological agents will be pursued with emphasis on broad-spectrum protection, platform technologies to enable rapid response, rapid onset to protection, fewer doses required, no cold chain required, and needle-free administration.

Investments include efforts to develop technologies that strengthen and tune the host immune system and identifying appropriate vaccine platform technologies.

Air purification filters go on individual protective gear (masks) and collective protection (i.e., military systems such as tanks, ships, and buildings). Current filters are expensive and do not alert operators when they are no longer effective at blocking Chemical and Biological (CB) threats. Air Purification Enhancements develops filters that last longer and reduce lifecycle costs, as well as devices to monitor their effectiveness throughout their lifecycle. The thrust areas filters will develop and mature enhanced protection technologies against both traditional and advanced threats.

Current individual protective gear can be uncomfortable to wear for extended periods of time and the gear can make it less natural to perform essential warfighting functions. All-Hazards and Respiratory Protection designs and develops reduced burden, low encumbrance respiratory and ocular (eye) protection. This will make it easier for the warfighter to perform mission essential tasks while operating in individual protective gear. Current Chemical and Biological (CB) protective masks don’t integrate with current optical sites and developmental optical systems, such as heads up displays. All-Hazards Respiratory Protection works to develop CB defense masks that integrate with these combat systems.

Develops next generation protection materials for protective garments, masks, and filters. It identifies and tests new materials that absorb, neutralize, and repel chemical and biological warfare agents with high efficiency, which will reduce costs by extending service life. New materials can also reduce the heat burden of individual protection and make it more natural to operate. This will allow warfighters to operate in individual protection gear for extended periods of time, reducing the necessity of early warning. Multifunctional Materials for Protection (MMfP) replaces per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)-based textile finishes and surface coatings. MMfP begins manufacturing and scaling processes for technologies that transition to all physical protection thrust areas.

Advances garment material and ensemble technologies with revolutionary capability improvements using integrated, low encumbrance garment designs and fabrication processes for thermal burden reduction, greater mobility, longer service life, and simplified logistics. Incorporates state-of-the-art threat protection technologies and develops supporting test methodologies and methods that provide operationally relevant, consistently comparable test data on protective garments.

Develops protective medicines that are effective against a broader range of nerve agents – including fourth generation agents – than had ever before been thought possible. Successful development of these medicines will greatly enhance the ability of the warfighter to stay in the fight and move forward.

The Enabling Science thrust area funds research efforts that modernize the chemical medical countermeasure (cMCM) pipeline to develop and deploy cMCMs more rapidly to the warfighter, with lower costs to the government.

This effort funds biomedical research focused on the early discovery and evaluation of broadly-acting therapeutic countermeasures that support development of novel and repurposed therapeutic interventions.

Provides innovative and rapid medical countermeasures (MCMs) development capabilities (Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, data science, and platform technologies) that reduce developmental risks, cost, and schedule associated with (MCM) fielding. Effort is focused on developing tools that enable prediction of disease type and identify broad- spectrum targets for both host and pathogen.

The Enabling Science portfolio leverages technological advances and innovative approaches to accelerate the fielding of chemical medical countermeasures (cMCM) to protect the warfighter. The Enabling Science thrust area funds research efforts that modernize the cMCM pipeline to develop and deploy cMCMs more rapidly to the warfighter, with lower costs to the government.

The Emerging chemical and Pharmaceutical-based Agent Threat portfolio is focused on developing chemical medical countermeasures (cMCMs) that prevent or treat the adverse effects of priority emerging chemical threats as well as identifying threat agnostic cMCMs that can treat multiple symptoms.

The ReACT portfolio is developing a number of different candidate medicines that are effective against a broader range of nerve agents – including fourth generation agents - than had ever before been thought possible. Successful development of these medicines will greatly enhance the ability of the warfighter to survive, recover, and continue with assigned duties.

While there exist multiple processes and reagents for cleaning physical surfaces that have been contaminated with chemical agents, there are limited options for human skin, and nothing that could be used for open wounds. This represents a source of continuing exposure for the warfighter and a hazard to medical personnel treating them. CROWD focuses on developing a ready-to-use product to remove Chemical Warfare Agent (CWA) contamination on skin, eyes and ultimately wounds. Removing or neutralizing CWA decreases the total exposure to the warfighter and allows optimal effectiveness of other medicines.

Enhanced Survivability Coatings assesses existing technologies and develops new coatings to increase chemical agent resistance for equipment. This will make it quicker and easier to decontaminate and restore assets for use in normal, unprotected operations. It will also allow the Joint Force to reduce individual protective gear more quickly.

Multifunctional Materials for Protection (MMfP) develops next generation hazard mitigation materials for decontaminants and equipment coatings. It identifies and tests new materials that absorb, neutralize, and repel chemical and biological warfare agents with high efficiency, which will reduce costs by extending service life. This will make decontamination easier and reduce the logistical burden on the Joint Force and supporting the Joint Force’s operational concepts in priority theaters. MMfP also develops new materials to replace per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)-based finishes and surface coatings. MMfP begins manufacturing and scaling processes for technologies that transition to all physical hazard mitigation thrust areas.

Personnel Decontamination provides new personnel decontamination kits with reduced costs and logistics (storage and shelf-life limitations) compared to the currently fielded product and provides new processes and methods for decontamination of unbroken skin.

This effort will focus on the characterization of alternative models that mimic the human response to biological and chemical agents to enable rapid response.

This effort is aimed at identifying, analyzing, and implementing alterations (policy, processes, and facilities) required to attain the ability to conduct defensive classified Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) work in biosafety laboratories. This will include training and maintaining sufficient scientists and technicians able to execute science and technology (S&T) in high containment laboratory spaces at various levels of classification. This effort executes a robust emerging biothreat portfolio to enable readiness for future incidents.

Develop threat sensing and sampling payloads for manned and unmanned aerial system (UAS) and ground (UGS) platforms to enhance early warning and situational awareness of biological and chemical threats. Sensor development will support dismounted reconnaissance and surveillance missions by providing low size, weight, power and cost sensors or sensing/ collection systems that are rugged, rapid and accurate.