The Homeland Protection Engineering Team
The
Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) possesses a wealth of
chemical and biological (CB) defense knowledge gained through over
85 years of groundbreaking research and development in the field
of CB defense. ECBC has more than 70 years of experience in development,
testing, and application of collective protection systems. Recent
building protection projects have involved applying collective protection
to approximately 100 facilities in the United States and abroad.
The Homeland Protection Engineering Team (HPET) is a part of the
Protection Engineering Group at the Edgewood Chemical Biological
Center. The HPET has provided building protection services to various
government, military, and commercial agencies, focusing on internal,
external, and remote weapons of mass destruction (WMD) attacks.
The overarching goal of the HPET in this area is to tailor a range
of building protection and fixed site protection products and services
to meet the variety of needs created by today's chemical, biological,
and radiological (CBR) WMD threats.
The HPET's mission is to reduce the consequences of WMD incidents
and airborne hazards by providing assessments and/or solutions to
address facility vulnerabilities.
Services Offered by the HPT
Vulnerability Assessments
Assessments are performed to determine the vulnerability of buildings and fixed
sites to CBR WMD attacks. The HPET focuses on evaluating vulnerabilities
to internal, external, and remote attacks. The HPET iden¬ti¬fies
a variety of measures-physical security, mechanical, architectural, and operational-to
reduce the vulnerabilities.
Collective Protection Application Assessments
The HPET conducts surveys to determine the most efficient and effective approach
for applying collective protection systems to existing buildings and new
constructions. The systems can be designed to protect all or a part of a
facility. Design Services The HPET can serve as architectural and engineering
contract technical monitors, as well as provide design support for the integration
of collective protection systems.
Protective Solutions Lifecycle Services
The HPET can perform the following services over the protective solutions lifecycle:
- Provide short-, mid-, and long-range protective solutions
through customized procedures and hardware.
- Author specifications and scopes of work for implementation
of solutions.
- Prepare for and/or conduct operational and certification
tests following incorporation of the protective solutions.
- Test and inspect newly installed collective protection
systems to ensure that the systems provide the intended
protective capability.
- Develop maintenance recommendations and conduct testing
to maintain the full functionality of the protective
solutions.
- Prepare operating and maintenance manuals for both
stand-alone systems as well as systems integrated with
building HVAC systems.
- Issue recommendations for evaluating and decommissioning
the building and associated protective solutions at the
end of its useful life.
Partnership Services
The HPET has developed partnerships with teams at ECBC as well as with the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Protective Design Center to provide the following
services:
- Rapid Response contracting
- Detection integration
- Mobile asset protection
- Nuclear, biological, and chemical testing services
- Customized rapid prototyping
- WMD dissemination device awareness training
- Equipment evaluation
For more information, contact Building Protection at building.protection@apgea.army.mil
The Building Protection website can be found at http://buildingprotection.rdecom.army.mil
For more information, contact the Homeland Protection
Engineering Team, U.S. Army ECBC at (410) 436-6582.
