Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD — The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC) celebrated the tenth anniversary of its historic destruction of the Syrian declared chemical agent stockpile aboard ship in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea in a ceremony at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland on August 14.

Speakers included Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, who was Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics during the Cape Ray mission and a key figure in the accomplishment; Craig Campbell, Principal Director, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Threat Reduction and Arms Control; Michael Bailey, Director, DEVCOM CBC; and Timothy Blades, Deputy Director, Research and Operations Directorate, DEVCOM CBC. Blades serves as the Operations Director of the DEVCOM CBC field response team that performed the mission at sea – the Chemical Biological Application and Risk Reduction (CBARR) Business Unit.

Afterward, speakers and attendees toured displays that included chemical agent destruction technologies developed by DEVCOM CBC based on the lessons learned from the Syrian stockpile destruction mission.

“CBARR is unique. They take on operationally remote, dangerous missions. There were a hundred ways the mission could go wrong,” said Bailey. “CBARR takes on these missions and make them look easy. They are professionals who love what they do and do it well.”

“This is a mission that still stands today as a perfect example of how success is generated,” said Campbell. “CBARR came up with the concept, and designed and built the technology, giving the U.S. a viable solution to the Syrian chemical weapons threat, something no other nation had.” He added, “CBARR’s impact was that lives were saved…something that was not possible without CBARR’s experienced experts.”

Destruction at sea aboard a ship was needed because no nation would agree to hosting the stockpile’s destruction. CBARR made destruction at sea possible by miniaturizing an existing chemical agent neutralization technology. The technology known as hydrolysis, was housed in large factory buildings when used to destroy U.S. chemical agent stockpiles on land in the early 2000s.

DEVCOM CBC engineers designed and built a version that could fit inside several 8- by 20-foot shipping containers for transport and take up a 400- by 700-foot area once assembled. Known as the Field Deployable Hydrolysis System (FDHS), they also made it rugged enough to operate inside a pitching ship, easy to assemble and disassemble, and doubled up on crucial parts to avoid any single points of failure. The FDHS was a fast-track acquisition project initiated in February 2013 with a functioning prototype delivered in four months.

The result was a “clean win,” according to Kendall. “Nobody envisioned putting the destruction system on a ship, but we succeeded by anticipating a problem, assumed risk, and executed according to plan,” he said. “I can tell you after 50 years in government defense, you don’t get many clean wins.”

Blades told the audience that he knew CBARR was the right organization to perform the mission. “CBARR maintains a culture of solving very difficult problems by working collectively and with ingenuity. This culture makes us able to address future (chemical biological agent) problems the nation may face.”

In attendance were Rebecca Hersman, Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA); Dr. Robert Kristovich, Director of DTRA’s Chemical and Biological Technologies and Joint Science and Technology Office; Maj. Gen. James Turinetti, Commanding General of Communications-Electronics Command and Senior Commander of Aberdeen Proving Ground; Brig. Gen. John Cushing, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command; and Brig. Gen. W. Bochat, Commanding General of the 20th CBRNE Command. Also in attendance was Joe Weinand, who was DEVCOM CBC director during the mission, as well as many members of the DEVCOM CBC workforce who contributed to the mission’s success.

The showcase of chemical agent destruction technologies on display during the ceremony held in Aberdeen Proving Ground’s Mallette Hall represented the legacy of the Cape Ray mission. These technologies included the FDHS itself as well as the next generation of the system — the Compact Rapid Chemical Agent Neutralization System. Also on display were a bulk container destruction system small enough to be carried, known as the Blackdog, and a thermite bag destruction system that fits inside two backpacks.

The showcase also included SteriMist, a biological decontamination unit that uses ionized hydrogen peroxide; Decon Slurry, a highly reactive spray-on decontaminant; the Full Spectrum Respiratory Protection System; Portable Mass Spectrometry capability; Waveguide-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy; the Array Configured of Remote Networked Sensors; and information about DEVCOM CBC’s Biomanufacturing Facility.