Dugway challenge bolsters military's ability to protect against biological, chemical attacks

DUGWAY, Tooele County— With the war on terror evolving rapidly, work conducted in Utah's western desert could be the difference between life and death for the nation's military and allies facing an ever-more dangerous and unpredictable enemy.

This week, Dugway Proving Ground began hosting its fourth S/K Challenge training exercise aimed at assessing the strengths and weaknesses of chemical and biological detectors and associated software in an operational defense environment. S/K is short for Sets and Kits — which is an acronym used by the military to describe skills and equipment.

“It’s a unique opportunity to advance new technologies and capabilities in support of the global chemical and biological defense community,” said Jeff Hogan, a microbiologist with the Biological Test Division and this year’s test officer for the two-week challenge.

Over the course of the training period, military members from the U.S. and abroad get firsthand experience on how to deal with potential attacks, explained Lance McEntire, chief of Counter (Weapons of Mass Destruction) Branch Special Programs Division at the West Desert Test Center.

"That's the beauty of Dugway. The troops can come and educate themselves on two different disciplines — chem and bio," he said. "It's not unlike a college setting. We have a portion where they sit down in a lecture class and we then move into a laboratory setting where they lay out microorganisms on Petrie dishes to learn how they grow."

Participants also learn how to synthesize chemicals in a laboratory setting as well, he said.

"It's the same kind of pathways in which chemical warfare (agents) are made," he added.

The U.S. and international military members then learn how to use that knowledge in simulated 'real-life" scenarios, he said.

"That scenario could be a production scenario or a dissemination scenario, then those troops have to take their mission set and go and solve that problem," McEntire said. They learn "tactics, techniques and procedures."

"We provide them with the science behind chemical and biological warfare behavior," he said. "They take that knowledge and integrate it into how they do their soldiering during tasks."

Chris Bond, wing commander with the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom, said the Dugway exercises help provide advanced training for the British military that complements the skills they have already acquired.

"We've been coming here to Dugway for 13 years for training," he said. "It's always the guys who are stepping up to the next level of training who come for it. It's that uplift of skills that Dugway is able to give us."

Established in February 1942 by President Franklin Roosevelt on an initial 126,720 acres, Dugway Proving Ground was authorized for use by the War Department to fill the need for testing weapons and defenses against chemical and biological agents of mass destruction. Among the projects undertaken at the time was testing of incendiary bombs, chemical weapons and modified agents as spray disseminated from aircraft, along with some work on mortars.

Today, the site located 78 miles west of Salt Lake City encompasses nearly 800,000 acres and has added reliability and survivability testing of all types of military equipment in a chemical or biological environment to its testing protocols, along with the already established chemical and biological defense testing and environmental characterization and remediation technology testing.

Dugway Proving Ground provides efficient testing and support to enable our nation's defenders to counter chemical, biological, radiological and explosives hazards, said Vincent Liddiard, chief of staff at Dugway Proving Ground. Chemical and biological defense testing at the facility enhances the readiness of our warfighters, he said.

"What this (testing) does is we're going to learn how our equipment is working, and as we develop new pieces of equipment, how well it's able to detect what's in the environment," he said. The simulated live testing gives scientists the opportunity to determine the effectiveness of the technology and figure out if adjustments need to be made to upgrade reliability, he added.

"What they are trying to do is develop better pieces of equipment or new pieces of equipment, and this lets them know if they're working, how well they're working and if they are able to make improvements," he said. "(They want to know) what things they can learn from this to better protect warfighters, to better protect Americans abroad and to better protect Americans here in our own country."

Besides equipment testing, the Dugway facility also houses one of the nation's few chemical and biological testing labs. That specialization allows for research on some of the most dangerous substances known in the field of warfare and ensures the equipment the military uses works properly, explained Chemical Testing Division Director Christopher Olson.

"We test all of the military equipment that is supposed to protect, detect or decontaminate chemical agents," he said. "We prove whether or not (the equipment) works."

"We protect against all chemical threats, ranging from common household chemicals (such as) ammonia and chlorine, but our main mission is the chemical agents like sarin or mustard gas."

He noted that a separate laboratory does testing for biological agents. All such testing is conducted in a highly controlled, indoor environment — never outdoors, he said.

While attacks with chemical or biological agents are rare, he said extensive testing and research are among the keys to being properly prepared to combat the use of such terrorism and warfare tactics. It is the world we live in today, he acknowledged.

"We don't produce them and we don't build them with the intent to weaponize or to kill people, but we do have to protect our military from it and frankly our citizens as well," Olson said.

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