SubscribeIn a ceremony today at Smiths Detection, Watford, the first Lightweight Chemical Agent Detector (LCAD) to enter service with the British Army, was handed over to the Ministry of Defence.
Under a contract worth some £20 million, Smiths Detection is now delivering the latest chemical warfare agent detection equipment for UK troops, from Watford, Herts, where LCAD was designed and developed.
Stephen Phipson, Group Managing Director, Smiths Detection, made the formal presentation to Major General R A D Applegate OBE, Capability Manager Battlespace Manoeuvre, representing the MOD. Guests from the MoD and industry were in attendance.
Stephen Phipson congratulated the team from Smiths Detection, DSTL Porton Down, the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) and the Ministry of Defence that brought LCAD to fruition. In his address he said "LCAD is a success story. This was not an issue of just going through the motions but of determination get something into service with front line troops that they both need and want. The genuine respect and trust between our people at Watford and their MoD counterparts is a model that deserves to be emulated more widely."
LCAD is a part of the UK MoD's two tier detection strategy to provide a real time battlefield identification. LCAD is the attack level warning device, while the MCAD (Manportable Chemical Agent Detector) provides a higher level detection capability with greater sensitivity and more capable displays. MCAD is also made by Smiths Detection.
LCAD is the result of several years design research and development work at Watford, which lead to the award of the competitive contract in 2002 and acceptance into service earlier this year.
LCAD employs several leading edge technologies and gives the UK Ministry of Defence a world-leading capability to provide small groups and individuals with an effective warning device in the event of a chemical attack by warfare agents or toxic industrial chemicals (TICS). LCAD provides both audible and visual warning of the arrival of the agent, allowing them to take countermeasures.
LCAD weighs less than 450 gm (1lb) and is designed to withstand the many stresses and strains members of the armed forces are likely to subject it to. One of the many revolutionary aspects of LCAD is the fact that it is one of the first ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) technology instruments to enter volume production that does not incorporate a radioactive ionizing source. Variants of MCAD are also available without a radioactive ionizing source.
LCAD is a variant of Smiths Detection's Lightweight Chemical Detector (LCD) which is coming into service with a number of defence and security forces around the world. LCD is currently a contender for the major US Joint Chemical Agent Detector (JCAD) programme under the DoD.
Smiths Detection at Watford is the world's leading facility for the research, design, development and volume production of IMS devices for chemical threats, especially for the defence and security forces. LCAD follows CAM, GID-2A, and GID-3 which are in worldwide service to detect the threat of chemical warfare agents and TICS.
