Europe’s premier CBRN event, the CBRNe Summit Europe is returning to Brno, Czech Republic, for its seventh annual function. It will take place from 30 November – 2 December 2021 at the Best Western Premier Hotel International Brno. The first two days will involve conferences and an exhibition hosted by military and civil officials involved in CBRNe incidents. A live demonstration and exercise will be presented on the final day.
Over the past decade, many governments across the region have realised the importance of CBRNe capabilities and preparedness. Additionally, budgets have been increased to deal with unconventional weapons.
Day 1: Tuesday 30 November
The first day will comprise three conference topics including civil CBRNe capabilities across Central-Eastern Europe, pandemic preparedness, and chem-bio countermeasures.
The first moderated discussion session will be on how different civil agencies respond to a CBRNe incident within an urban area with mass casualties. Current threats faced and the response procedures including Hazmat, Decon and EOD will then be discussed.
In the second moderated discussion session, participants will discuss responses and actions in the event of a future pandemic or ChemBio incident.
Steven Pike, Managing Director of Argon Electronics, will give a presentation on CBRN simulation training at 11:00 am.
Day 2: Wednesday 1 December
The second day will comprise two conference topics including military CBRNe Capabilities and international cooperation between agencies.
There will be two moderated discussion sessions on day two. The first will be an overview of national armed forces CBRNe capabilities to assist in CBRNe urban incidents. The session will also discuss how the military will assist civil agencies if required.
In the second session, participants will review how NGOs and national agencies assist each other when dealing with a CBRNe incident, as well as how international agencies work together to manage the threats.
Day 3: Thursday 2 December
The third day is a live demonstration and exercise day, which will be given by the SIBCRA team and the 311th Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear Defence. It will take place in the Barracks Sumavská, University of Defence, Brno.
For the purpose of the demonstration, the SIBCRA team will conduct a mission in an illegal laboratory to take samples that provide definite proof of CBRN agents. They will then conduct a survey inside the building, collecting samples to ensure they are packaged correctly. Samples will be prepared for transportation to a laboratory. The objective of the mission is to ensure that the integrity of the samples is not compromised.
Background to the CBRNe Summit Europe 2021
In Europe, within the past twenty years, there have been sixteen major terrorist attacks. These include the Madrid train bombing in 2004, where 193 people were killed and 2,050 injured; the November 2015 Paris attacks, where 138 people were killed and killed and 413 were injured; and the Manchester Arena bombing, where 23 people were killed and 250 were injured. All of these attacks were carried out by individuals belonging to extremist organisations.
The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) is a comprehensive study analysing the impact of terrorism for 163 countries; it covers 99.7 per cent of the world’s population. The index rates the U.K., France, and Germany as the top three European countries most affected by terrorists. They placed 30th, 38th, and 48th, respectively. Surprisingly, the U.K. ranks above countries including Palestine, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Russia, and Israel.
Although there has fortunately never been a terrorist attack on European soil using an unconventional weapon, there is a serious and legitimate concern that an attack is a possibility. In 2015, ISIL/Da’esh vowed that future strikes will be more lethal and even more shocking. Nomi Bar-Yaacov, an Associate Fellow, International Security Programme at Chatham House, warned that the UK government must consider the possibility of an Islamic State attack with unconventional weapons on its territory.
Moreover, Caitriona McLeish, Senior Fellow at the University of Sussex and co-director of the Harvard Sussex Program on Chemical and Biological Weapons, in her paper entitled Recasting the Threat of Chemical Terrorism in the EU: the Issue of Returnees from the Syrian Conflict, warned of potential CBRN terrorist events. She argues that despite traditionally being characterised as low-possibility events, the normalisation of using chemical weapons in Syria by “foreign fighters” is leading some international security experts to question the chance of such an attack. She argues that faced with the (albeit low) possibility of a CBRN event, European countries must create a robust public health response, including early alert and communication systems.
Such a response requires multifaceted coordination by a number of emergency responders, the military, and CBRN experts—the very reason why events such as the CBRNe Summit Europe are of the utmost importance.
Training for any event will be key to reducing the level of human and environmental damage. Simulation training using Argon Electronics’ products is widely acknowledged as one of the most effective ways of training the emergency services and military; it aims to validate and enhance preparedness and response plans, procedures, and systems for all hazards faced.
Argon will be exhibiting at CBRNe Summit Europe
Argon will be exhibiting a wide range of CBRN training systems to support training in contamination avoidance, monitoring and control, reconnaissance, search, and survey training.
A range of training systems will be on show, including Argon’s new MultiGAS-SIM, simulators for the Smiths LCD3.2e and LCD3.3, Proengin AP4C, Mirion / Canberra RDS100 / PDR77, and Thermo FH40G.
PlumeSIM, an instrumented CBRN training system now in use by many leading training facilities worldwide will be demonstrated live at the event.
PlumeSIM-SMART, our App-based system will also be on display. Perfect for both command officer and operator training, PlumeSIM-SMART enables tabletop and field emergency planning exercises to be implemented anywhere in the world with ease.
Argon’s training systems are in use by many organisations throughout the world to enhance Chemical, Biological, Radiological Nuclear (CBRN) and Hazardous Material (HazMat) training.
Getting in touch with Argon Electronics
To learn more about how simulators and simulator training can aid your existing CBRNe and HazMat instruction programmes, or about radiation and chemical hazard detection training using simulators, please stop by Booth 1 to view our products and speak with a member of our team.
If there is a specific topic you would like to discuss, or if you'd like to organise a specific meeting, please feel free to contact us ahead of the event to arrange a personal meeting.
