ABERDEEN, Md., 28 July 2012. The U.S. Army is taking steps towards detecting and defeating chemical and biological weapons. After the revision of an annoucement from the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) the Army has awarded EXCET Inc., a services and technology firm in Springfield, Va. that focuses on supporting government entities, a $7.8 million research and development contract in support of technology to detect chemical and biological agents.

EXCET is to develop, evaluate and enhance technologies that detect chemical and biological agents, as well as energetic materials, toxic industrial materials, and toxic industrial chemicals. The goal of this effort is to design a reliable system for detecting these dangerous materials that is easy to use, rugged, sensitive, small, lightweight and low cost.

In the announcement by the ECBC, funding was also called for several other related projects. These projects include creating enzymatic systems for the degradation of dangerous chemicals, an investigation of self-decontaminating coatings that have enzymatic or biochemical compounds, and an investigation of microbial systems and other natural products for the bioremediation of hazardous wastes such as chemical agents and other chemical warfare related materials. Each of these programs are ranked as category A, or ECBC high program priority and high probability of funding.

The estimated completion date for the contract with EXCET Inc. is July of 2015, with work being performed at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.