Contractors competing for chem-bio defense dollars.

• Author: Fein, Geoff S.

A small credit-card size device that can be installed on unmanned drones could be used to detect airborne nerve and blister agents. The technology was developed at the Sandia National Laboratory, in New Mexico, and is being marketed by Lockheed Martin.

Called SnifferStar, it can send data on potential threats to a processor on the UAV or to a ground station. The information is analyzed against a library of frequency patterns created by agents. The entire process takes 20 seconds.

Currently, the system is being tested on a UAV at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. However, according to Doug Adkins, one of the developers of SnifferStar, the system his encountered some communications problems. Those issues have limited demonstrations to the ground-based system, he said.

SnifferStar continually sends data. The ground-based unit needs to ignore the interferences that occur when SnifferStar transmits information, said Adkins.

"We're working on software to ignore 'burps' in the data," he said. SnifferStar is still in early stages of development. "Deployment is a couple of years down the line."

The detector originally was developed by Sandia. Lockheed Martin liked the idea and funded a program to try it out on a UAV.

The system was on display at the latest Worldwide Chemical Conference, in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

SnifferStar began in 2000, but the project lagged until recently, when the services showed interest.

The Office of Naval Research, in Arlington, Va., is working with Advanced Ceramics Research, of Tucson, Ariz., to put SnifferStar on the company's Silver Fox UAV, Adkins said.

Silver Fox is a research and development effort to create a small, lightweight, inexpensive or expendable unmanned aerial vehicle that will fly autonomously for long durations at 60 knots, and will run on JP-5/JP-8 fuel. It is designed to carry sensor packages weighing up to 4 pounds.

Another detector shown at the conference, called ChemPatrol, was developed by General Dynamics Armament and Technical Production. The system provides 360-degree coverage at a range of three miles.

"It's probably a year away [from fielding]," said Allan McCormick, software manager for GDATP.

The unit can be mounted on ground, sea and air platforms. It was originally designed to fit into the Hellfire missile tube onboard an AH-64D Apache helicopter.

GDATP also fielded the Joint Service Lightweight Standoff Chemical Agent Detector (JSLSCAD). It provides 360-degree coverage for both ground- and...