Luckily your counterparts in Homeland Security have already invested $100ms developing such a system – incorporating Kromek’s D3S portable detector as its ‘eyes & ears’ – to safeguard large metropolitan areas like Washington & New York. Indeed the network not only works outstandingly well, but has also been deployed on several of President Trump’s overseas visits, and many other high-profile political gatherings. So what do you do? Try to ‘re-invent the wheel’, or simply buy something that does the job.

Not surprisingly we got the answer this morning, after the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA: part of the DoD) awarded a 2 year $1.8m contract to Kromek to develop a new military-grade ‘Radionuclide Identification Device’. Or, in other words, the firm has been tasked with creating a much ‘tougher & ruggedized’ version of its state-of-the-art D3S – so that it can operate under harsher terrains and combat conditions. 

Although this certainly won’t be easy considering the levels of sophisticated gadgetry fitted inside each of these handheld detectors. Albeit we believe it is also comfortably within the scope of Kromek’s existing R&D and production capabilities.

Again it’s impossible to be too specific at this stage. However, ultimately we reckon the magnitude of any follow-on commercial orders could be in the 10s of thousands – and importantly too, at a higher price point than the civilian version of D3S. Hence our enthusiasm.

CEO Dr Arnab Basu, adding “We are seeing considerable traction for our D3S radiation detectors as they continue to prove their efficacy in the security markets globally. This project with the DTRA highlights the versatility of our technology platform as we develop a ruggedised device capable of identifying radioactive threats in a military environment.”