Detecting NBC contaminants on the move: armed services and first responders upgrade their fleets of reconnaissance vehicles.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold
• Position: Nuclear, biological and chemical poisons

As the nation steps up its efforts to cope with the threat of nuclear, biological and chemical attacks, U.S. armed services and homeland security units are modernizing their fleets of vehicles designed to help detect the presence of toxic materials before they can harm combat troops, first responders or civilians.

* The Fox NBC reconnaissance vehicle--used by the Army and Marines since the Gulf War--is getting a makeover.

* Plans are being made to provide a lighter platform, more suitable to city streets, by adapting the Humvee and a version of the Army's Stryker light armored vehicle.

* Local emergency-response teams around the country are buying civilian trucks and vans and packing them with the latest NBC sensors and communications gear.

Altogether, the two services have 120 Foxes, which they have been upgrading gradually since 1996. General Dynamics land Systems, of Sterling Heights, Mich., has been installing enhanced chemical detection, global positioning and autonomous navigation systems.

The addition of a stand-off detector allows early warning of airborne contamination up to three miles from the vehicle, according to John G. Petty, director of GDLS's Fox program. Also included is a new automated sensor suite, which allows the vehicle's crew to be reduced from four to three, he said.

Thus far, 97 Foxes either already have been upgraded or are under contract to have the work done by 2004 said the Army's product manager for NBC reconnaissance systems, Lt. Col. Donald J. Burnett. Just last August, the company received a $26 million contract for 11 of them.

Since the terrorist attacks, the pace seems to be picking up, according to Petty. "We think that the Army now has an interest in completing the fleet," he said.

The Fox is a six-wheeled armored personnel carrier equipped to detect, identify and mark areas of nuclear or chemical contamination and report its presence immediately, Petty explained. But on its own, it cannot detect and report biological contamination--such as anthrax spores--he said. "The technology for that is just being developed."

The Fox, however, can gather samples of suspected biological contamination from as far away as five kilometers, Petty noted. Those samples then can be submitted to a laboratory for later analysis.

The 20-ton Fox can move quickly to investigate suspected contamination sites, Petty said. It is capable of 65 mph on the highway, and it can swim waterways at 6 mph.

Hazards are reduced by an...