The threat of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) attacks — whether by state actors, terrorist organisations, or through industrial accidents — demands a defence capability that is perpetually ready but whose services are rarely called upon. India's CBRN defence ecosystem, spanning the armed forces, civil defence, disaster management, and scientific institutions, has been a dedicated focus at the Bharat Defence Tech Show, which has brought together the diverse stakeholders needed to build a coherent national capability.
India's DRDO maintains active research programmes in CBRN defence technology, including detection systems for chemical warfare agents, biological detection sensors for pathogen identification, and radiation monitoring equipment for nuclear and radiological threats. The challenge of CBRN detection is extreme sensitivity — systems must identify threat agents at vanishingly small concentrations before dangerous exposure occurs — while maintaining acceptable rates of false alarms that could paralyse operations. BDTS has facilitated technology showcases of the latest detection systems, including spectroscopic sensors, biosensors using engineered antibodies, and AI-enabled anomaly detection in environmental monitoring data.
CBRN protection technologies — personal protective equipment, collective protection for vehicles and command posts, and decontamination systems — have been another BDTS showcase domain. The development of lighter, more breathable protective suits that allow extended operations in CBRN environments without the debilitating heat stress that characterises current solutions has been identified as a priority gap through BDTS discussions.
India's National Disaster Management Authority's integration with military CBRN defence resources was examined at BDTS through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic, which demonstrated both the value of having military CBRN capabilities available for civil contingencies and the gaps in civil-military coordination that need to be addressed.
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