Threat Agent Cloud Tactical Intercept & Countermeasure, or TACTIC, is a United States military research program whose goal is to detect, classify, and neutralize airborne biological

Biological agent

A biological agent — also called bio-agent or biological threat agent — is a bacterium, virus, prion, or fungus which may cause infection, allergy, toxicity or otherwise create a hazard to human health. They can be used as a biological weapon in bioterrorism or biological warfare...

 and chemical warfare agents.

Overview

As Dr. Karen Wood, program mangager of TACTIC in the Tactical Technology Office of DARPA, explains,

The purpose of the Threat Agent Cloud Tactical Intercept and Countermeasure (TACTIC) Program is to provide the United States (US) military with the capability to protect the warfighter from CWA/BWA threat clouds on the battlefield. The goal of the program is to provide a system that can rapidly detect and identify the presence of a typical threat cloud and provide a countermeasure

Countermeasure

A countermeasure is a measure or action taken to counter or offset another one. As a general concept it implies precision, and is any technological or tactical solution or system designed to prevent an undesirable outcome in the process...

 to that cloud that will kill it before it reaches the intended target.

Detection and Discrimination

The program's goal is to be able to detect and identify CWA/BWA threats within the time frame of one minute. Research includes such methodologies as:

• bead-based assays for biological molecules
• fluorescent assays for chemical molecules
• retro-reflector assays for both chemical and biological molecules

Removal of Threat

Upon successfully determining the nature of the CWA/BWA threat, "technologies that mimic the seeding of rain clouds

Cloud seeding

Cloud seeding, a form of intentional weather modification, is the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysical processes within the cloud...

 will be developed for particulate bio-agents, and technologies that react with chemical agent vapor will be investigated." When an effective system for both identifying and countering the CWA/BWA threat is engineered, DARPA will then provide a prototype

Prototype

A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...

which will be vigorously tested in aerosol chambers. Only after completion of chamber testing will full-scale field testing commence.

External links

• TACTIC Program summary at DARPA's Strategic Technology Office