Air Force taps Veridian for bio hazard research

Veridian Corp. has won a five-year, $27.2 million contract from the Air Force to conduct research and development on the effects of biological hazards on battlefields, the company announced April 23.

The contract will focus on how radio frequency energy and biological hazards effect humans in the air and on the ground. The research program will be carried out at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio.

Radio frequency energy on the battlefield comes from radar and other sources generated by friend and foe.

Under the contract, Veridian will explore how to detect radio frequency energy, how to measure its effects on the human body and how to protect U.S. military forces against possible harmful effects, said Ron Hill, Veridian's vice president of human systems.

"We will examine a broad range, from RFE effects on combat forces' performance to changes [to the human body] at the cellular level," he said.

The contract also will include studies involving the use of directed energy tools to deny access to secured areas, ways to measure the biological effects of nonlethal weapons and methods to detect hazardous biological agents used in battle.