Contamination detection

From WikiCover

Announced August 24, 2007, the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems $56 million to upgrade 14 M93 and four M93A1 Fox Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Systems to the M93A1P1 configuration.

Work will be performed in Anniston, Alabama; Sterling Heights, Michigan; Lima, Ohio; and Germany, and is expected to be completed by September 2009.

The M93A1P1 is the most updated configuration of the Fox NBCRS and features a survivability improvement package. This includes slat armor, armor protection against improvised explosive devices and accommodations for the common Remotely Operated Weapon Station.

The Fox is in service in the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. It detects contamination in its immediate environment through point detection, and at a distance of up to three miles with a stand-off detector.

The M93A1 contains an enhanced NBC sensor suite consisting of the M21 Remote Sensing Chemical Agent Alarm (RSCAAL), MM1 Mobile Mass Spectrometer, Chemical Agent Monitor/Improved Chemical Agent Monitor (CAM/ICAM), AN/VDR-2 Beta Radiac, and M22 Automatic Chemical Agent Detector/Alarm (ACADA). The NBC sensor suite has been digitally linked with the communications and navigation subsystems. It has an over-pressure filtration system that permits the crew to operate in a shirt-sleeve environment that is fully protected from the effects of NBC agents and contamination outside the vehicle.

The M93A1 can detect chemical contamination in its immediate environment through point detection and at a distance through the use of the M21 RSCAAL. The Fox system automatically integrates contamination information from sensors with input from on-board navigation and meteorological systems and rapidly transmits via SINCGARS radios its digital NBC warning messages to warn follow-on forces. Two reconnaissance systems, working as a team, will normally precede the movement of troops and materiel to locate and mark contaminated areas.