The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND), the military’s lead for development, acquisition, fielding and life-cycle support of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense equipment and medical countermeasures, recently reorganized to a portfolio-based structure to focus on CBRN Protection, Medical and Sensors.
These core focus areas contribute to building a more lethal force, a priority in the National Defense Strategy, and streamline JPEO-CBRND efforts to meet the Joint Services’ needs in combatting chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats.
Three Joint Project Managers (JPM) will provide oversight for the portfolios, including JPM CBRN Protection, JPM CBRN Medical and JPM CBRN Sensors. Four Joint Project Leads (JPL) will focus on CBRN special operations forces, information management/information technology, portfolio resources and enabling biotechnologies. The JPLs will also provide portfolio-wide enabling support across the JPEO-CBRND.
“Restructuring under a portfolio-based construct allows us to be more flexible in aligning investments to goals and priorities, and balancing risk against performance in order to enable mission success,” said Mr. Douglas Bryce, the Joint Program Executive Officer. “The future of defense acquisition is fast and agile, and we will continue to work closely with our partners and end users every step of the way to deliver capabilities faster and at the right cost.”
JPM CBRN Protection will develop, field and sustain CBRN protection and increase mitigation capabilities for the Nation. Their focus in coordination with JPL CBRN Special Operations Forces will be to unencumber the warfighter by developing a next-generation protective ensemble that reduces the physiological burden on the user and enhances protection to emerging threats. They will also focus on developing contamination mitigation technologies including decontamination systems, protective coatings and barriers to significantly decrease the time required to decontaminate and reset personnel and equipment in CBRN environments.
JPM CBRN Medical will facilitate the advanced development and acquisition of medical solutions to combat CBRN and emerging threats. Their focus in coordination with JPL Enabling Biotechnologies will be to provide new and improved medical countermeasures to enable treatment for many threats, rapid medical countermeasure responses, genomic sequencing and the capability to diagnose CBRN threats before the onset of symptoms.
JPM CBRN Sensors will develop, field and sustain CBRN sensors, reconnaissance systems, mobile laboratory systems and obscuration capabilities for the Army. Their focus in coordination with JPL Information Management/Information Technology will be to provide integrated early warning by bringing together the products in its portfolio along with robotics and autonomous systems, decision support tools, machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide situational awareness and understanding of CBRN threats.
“A lot of work has been done across the federal government in partnership with industry and academia to better understand new and emerging CBRN threats. Our job at JPEO-CBRND is to ensure warfighters have the capabilities they need to fight and win against today’s threats, and that they will have the capabilities they’re going to need to fight and win against future threats. Reorganizing allows us to accomplish that mission more quickly and more efficiently.”
Dr. Jason Roos, Deputy JPEO-CBRND
In an environment of constantly evolving CBRN threats, United States’ warfighters need advanced capabilities for protection to carry out their missions. JPEO-CBRND can develop, field and deliver capabilities faster and more efficiently through the reorganized portfolio to better equip the warfighter.
About the JPEO-CBRND
The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense is the Joint Service’s lead for development, acquisition, fielding and life-cycle support of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense equipment and medical countermeasures. As an effective acquisition program, we put capable and supportable systems in the hands of the service members and first responders, when and where it is needed, at an affordable price. Our vision is a resilient Joint Force enabled to fight and win unencumbered by a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear environment; championed by innovative and state-of-the-art solutions.
Article edited for context and format by CBRNE Central