Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD – In 1917, the United States formally entered World War I, joining the Allied Forces on the Western Front. As one of the first wars in modern history to usher in the use of chemical weapons, the need arose for the U.S. to have a fully-fledged chemical warfare research facility. The U.S. Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC) can trace its lineage back to this original wartime complex.
While just a chapter in the span of the Army’s 250-year story, chemical and biological defense remains at the forefront of today’s conflicts. As the Army celebrates its 250th birthday, we take a look back at how DEVCOM CBC, in all its iterations, has enabled Soldiers to stay ready and lethal against a variety of adversaries. Its people continue to be the go-to experts in the laboratory and on the battlefield, providing transformational chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive defense capabilities for the warfighter.
Prior to WWI, chemical agent research was conducted at the American University in Washington, D.C., while gas mask production took place on Long Island, New York. The United States centralized the scattered approach to CBRN defense by bringing all these moving parts together under one roof with the establishment of the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service. This centralization relocated many assets to Edgewood Arsenal, located outside of Edgewood, Maryland, which had previously served only as a chemical munitions plant.
At this time, the Army stood up and staffed early laboratories, producing leaps in technology from within Edgewood Arsenal’s borders. These advancements equipped U.S. Soldiers with new designs in respirators and masks, as well as the earliest collective protective technology—the gas-proof blanket. Treated with a coating to ensure resistance against chemical agents, Soldiers would use these blankets to seal off rooms or create an area in their trenches to remove their masks. Edgewood Arsenal continued to assist troops with improved manufacturing methods and was capable of producing several tons of agent and incendiary/mustard munitions per day.
While these physical technologies helped to turn the tide of battle during WWI, Edgewood Arsenal’s greatest strength was its growing workforce. By the start of World War II, the U.S. Army’s efforts in recruiting the best scholars and minds from universities and industry meant that the nation now possessed the expertise and efficiency to surpass all other superpowers in the realm of chemical and biological warfare, providing an effective deterrent in future conflicts.
The Army’s first biological weapon, the ricin artillery shell, would never see the battlefield due to the end of WWII. The war’s end also marked the slowing of the Army’s efforts for CBRN offense as the Cold War ushered in an era of domestic defense and technological bolstering. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union both maintained large stockpiles of chemical weapons, amounting to tens of thousands of tons.
The Technical Escort Detachment was established to provide a rapid response force capable of addressing chemical incidents and ensuring environmental remediation. This detachment would later evolve into the 20th CBRNE Command. Edgewood garnered even more expertise as more scientists with advanced degrees came to work for the Army to further defend against growing international threats and chemical stockpiles.
The M18 Chemical Agent Detector Kit, consisting of colored strips of paper that react and change colors when exposed to various agents, made significant improvements in terms of simplicity and mobility for Soldiers in compromised environments. Over 3 million M17 gas masks were produced between 1967 and 1986, further protecting warfighters with more effectiveness, comfort and features to sustain the fight.
The Biological Weapons Convention of 1975 and the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1997 changed the global defense posture related to these weapons. The United States led other world powers in campaigns to destroy aging chemical weapons stockpiles while redirecting chemical and biological defense research and technology efforts to focus on protection, identification and decontamination, and demilitarization.
The post-9/11 world of CBRN defense saw the Army field prepackaged, ready-to-go response kits, such as the Mass Casualty Decontamination System, that contained everything a Soldier would need for incident response from a larger-scale attack: PPE, tents, decontamination, and cleanup equipment were rucksack-ready in a modular package. Soldiers also now had access to the M4 Joint Chemical Agent Detector (JCAD), a lightweight, portable, and rugged detector capable of identifying nerve, blister, and blood agents, as well as industrial compounds.
The Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) would see the international spotlight in 2014 with the Cape Ray mission, where the Center outfitted a 700-foot container ship to destroy Syria’s declared 600-metric-ton chemical agent stockpile in international waters. ECBC’s experts conceived, designed, and fabricated a field-deployable system in just six months and then joined the ship’s crew to neutralize the stockpile’s compounds into an inert industrial waste in just 42 days in the Mediterranean Sea. The achievement solidified the Center’s reputation on the world stage as the authority in dealing with chemical and biological threats.
As unit realignments brought the Center under the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), it continued to remain at the forefront of CBRN technology and defense. Its true decisive advantage, however, continues to be the men and women who create these transformational capabilities. DEVCOM CBC accomplishes its mission thanks to the efforts of more than 1,300 civilian experts in mechanical engineering, chemistry, microbiology, and other fields, with more than 200 holding doctorates in their respective areas of expertise.
Today, DEVCOM CBC holds a unique role in technology development, with an unrivaled chemical and biological defense research and development capability comprised of its workforce and infrastructure located nationwide at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland; Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas; Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois; and Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. DEVCOM CBC researchers are currently working with biomanufacturing, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, metal organic frameworks, deployable microsensors, advanced obscurants, and other technologies to defend U.S. and allied warfighters on the battlefield today and in the future.
For more than a century, scientists, engineers, technicians and support personnel at DEVCOM CBC have equipped Soldiers with cutting-edge defenses against the CBRN threats and challenges. For more information on how the DEVCOM CBC continues to develop technologies to protect American and allied warfighters from chemical and biological threats, visit the Center’s website at https://www.cbc.devcom.army.mil/.
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