NBC-Sys has just gained a major contract in the field of biological detection: design, development and support for the DETECBIO v1 “FIDGI system”.

NBC-Sys was notified at the end of January by the General Delegation for Armament (DGA) regarding the FIDGI market (genetic and immunological identification) within the framework of the DETECBIO programme.

The objective of this €31.8m contract is to ensure, on behalf of the DETECBIO v1 system, the development, production, management and logistics of the identification kits for pathogenic micro-organisms.

The DETECBIO v1 system is a top priority for the French Army command centre, ensuring forces operating under biological threats are protected. Its objective is to respond to the requirement for monitoring the environment, detecting biological threats as early as possible and operational identification to set up initial protective measures and prepare medical countermeasures to be implemented by the relevant health bodies involved.

Philippe Reynès, deputy managing director of NBC-Sys, said: “This major contract enables the company to position itself in the biological sector and thus consolidate its leading position in France in the CBRN field. Our customers can come to us for services ranging from biological and chemical detection to individual or collective protection and decontamination systems.”

NBC-Sys is a subsidiary of Nexter Systems. In 2008 it achieved a turnover of €13m and it employs approximately 60 people.

The French Army intends to redefine its CBRN defence system completely by 2015. Within this context, NBC-Sys has already gained the following R&D contracts: PERSEIDES (study for the architecture of the complete system), individual protection, decontamination and propergal (skin decontamination).