Particle Counters Used to Fight Biological Warfare Agents

The Department of Defense (DoD) has recently awarded a contract to Boeing and a team of U.S. biological defense companies that will employ particle counters to help combat terrorism.

Their mission is to design, develop and modify the ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The aircraft will carry a payload that can detect the presence of airborne biological warfare agents. The DoD’s Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) developed this program specifically to protect against biological terror attacks.

The plan incorporates 2 ScanEagle aircraft in a pre-strike phase when a target suspected of housing biological agents is identified. The UVA’s fly over the suspected target collecting meteorlogical data to update the predicted plume tracks. Once the plume track is identified, a ScanEagle equipped with a biological collector and a particle counter performs particle collection.

When the aircraft returns to base, the biological collector and the particle counter payload are removed for analysis. The particle counter is integrated into the front end of the aircraft and determines where the highest concentration of particles are. This extraordinary technology has the capability to locate, track, collect and detect biological warfare agents in a designated area.

Particle counters play an important role in the defense industry due to the extremely high manufacturing standards that are required. HITCO Carbon Deposits uses particle counters in its production of heat shields, rocket motor nozzles and jet exhaust protection. Another company, Aero Components, Inc. performs quality control spot checks with the Lighthouse 3016 Handheld Laser Particle Counter.