and available as a standalone full-time air filtration system or seamlessly integrated into the ship’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. The CPS creates pressurisation that pushes air outwards in event of a chemical outbreak, thereby continuously purging filtered and conditioned air through multiple airlocks and decontamination stations. Recently available airflow control components, like variable speed drives (VSDs), are helping reduce the energy burden of CPS by maintaining constant supply airflow and reducing purgeflow when not needed. VSDs are used to control CPS supply fans to optimise airflow supply and achieve energy savings from fan motors and reduced HVAC loads. Protection is Crucial CBRN systems need to be fail-safe and NATO AEP-54-compliant. Their integrated disposable dust pre-filters should be easy to replace, rather than necessitating replacement of the entire CBRN filter. They should also be compatible with a navy’s C4I systems and its system employment concepts. AEP-54 standardises restricted collective protection (COLPRO) in a CBRN environment. NATO primarily deals with CBRN threats in the context of collective defence. Military cooperation between the EU and NATO in this field is systematised by the Combined Joint CBRN Defence Task Force (CJ-CBRND-TF), structured to prevent, protect and recover from attacks by weapons of mass destruction or by CBRN events. Comprising the CBRN Joint Assessment Team (CBRN-JAT) and the high-readiness multinational CBRN Defence Battalion, the task force comes under the strategic command of Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEURThe USN’s Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) leads the service’s CBR defence programmes, in association with the CBR Defense Division at the Naval Surface Warfare The unabating COVID-19 pandemic and the emerging volatility in war-ravaged Afghanistan have brought the world to the edge, heightening the threat of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) warfare, waged either by state or non-state actors. An Active Threat CBRN materials represent the next major battlefield threat, wherein weapons delivered by projectile, aircraft or UAVs dispensing an aerosol spray, can rain havoc on men and materiel on land or at sea. The US believes that many developing countries with CB capability also have aggressive ballistic missile programmes, which become their weapon of choice on account of their long range. The Hague-based EU Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) indicates that, while the EU has ascertained no attempts at using COVID-19 as a bioweapon, terrorist propaganda and online chatter have suggested possible means of weaponising the coronavirus. Europol’s EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2021 also discerned attempts being made to purchase CBRN materials through the dark web, and deemed it “possible that some actors intend to use these materials to conduct attack[s]”. A dozen countries – including China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Russia, Syria and Taiwan – are suspected of managing offensive biological weapons programmes in various stages from R&D to establishing stockpiles, with most of these capabilities having been developed covertly. Though many of the countries possessing chemical weapons have pledged to destroy or convert them to civilian use, under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the CW threat remains. Increasing numbers of warships, like the USN’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, feature a collective protection system (CPS), or citadel, fully-customisable Sarosh Bana Reassessing Readiness Coping With the CBRN Threat in the Naval Environment 32 · MT 3/2022 Feature Protection against CBRN attacks is crucial to the naval community. (Photo: Guy Toremans)
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