By Lt. Michal Belšán
Lt. Michal Belšán presents a team profile of the Czech Armed Forces 31st CBRN Defense Regiment, discussing the team’s history, structure, processes, equipment, and capabilities. Are you interested in your CBRN, EOD, or IED team being featured in CBNW Magazine? Contact the editor at [email protected].
The 31st CBRN Defense Regiment is a main asset of the Czech Army dealing with any problems related to CBRN and hazmat threats. The regiment also cooperates on a regular basis with the military medical service on the mitigation of biological pathogens crossing the borders of the country, currently paying special attention to the latest threat represented by African swine fever.
The 31st CBRN Defense Regiment provides decontamination capabilities to manage the disinfection of incoming and outgoing military units, while the regiment’s warning and reporting system cells and logistics department also assist non-CBRN military units with advisory support in cooperation with the military medical service.
National and International Deployments
Capabilities and units of the 31st CBRN Defense Regiment participate regularly in NATO Rapid Response Forces and more recently also in the enhanced Forward Presence Battle Groups deployed at NATO’s eastern flank. Since the first deployment of Czech CBRN defense assets in 1991 in the Persian Gulf as a part of Operation Desert Storm, there have been great developments in procedures, equipment, and cooperative efforts at the national as well as international levels.
The sampling and identification of biological, chemical, and radiological agents (SIBCRA) in the NATO Capability Code and the regiment’s laboratory specialists prepared and led CBRN defense lessons for the Afghan National Army and Police in the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan from 2001-2014. Furthermore, the mobile training team prepared and delivered CBRN defence and laboratory procedures lessons for the Jordanian Army in several rotations.
Currently, the 31st CBRN Defense Regiment’s instructors also participate in the European Union Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine initiative, a structured EU response to the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ urgent as well as longer-term training needs.
To be able to fulfill NATO requirements, the 31st CBRN Defense Regiment formed and continue to develop the CBRN Multirole Exploitation Reconnaissance Team (CBRN-MERT) capability, part of the Joint CBRN Defence Task Force within the enhanced NATO Response Force. The CBRN-MERT capability represents the newest response to the requirements of a changing battlefield, one where intelligence materials, evidence, and biometrics collection provided by military units become an everyday issue.
The national environment represents a slightly bigger challenge in terms of collaboration as the 31st CBRN Defense Regiment, like the rest of the Czech Army, plays a secondary role in the National Integrated Rescue System. Apart from the annual National Integrated Rescue System exercise, most cooperation and training with the rest of the services – including firefighters, police, or medical and healthcare services – is managed at the unit-to-unit level.
Still, there is a history of cooperative deployment of army assets together with the national police and firefighters in the management of CBRN-related events. The 31st CBRN Defense Regiment’s SIBCRA teams were deployed during several illegal chemical materials depot discoveries, including WWII chemical warfare agents remains and precursors. Military deployable laboratory crews and the SIBCRA capability also train regularly with the National Institute for NBC Protection and the National Radiation Protection Institute to stay up-to-date with worldwide trends.
SIBCRA
The basic body of the SIBCRA team consists of 11 people. Three people usually conduct the initial CBRN recce of the potential hot zone, focusing especially on the detection of CBRN agents in the air or on the surface which show traces of the contamination affectation. Also, the initial CBRN recce segment makes an as conclusive as possible documentation of the site and the scene using cameras, photography, and drawn plans or sketches. If possible, the initial CBRN recce segment traces and marks spots where the most conclusive samples might be found.
Three people constitute the hard core of the SIBCRA team as they are the main sampling segment. There is one “dirty”, one “clean”, and one person in the background providing communication with the team leader and covering all documentation requirements in the hot zone. The “dirty” person is only one who comes into direct contact with potential contamination. The “clean” one provides materials and the primary decontamination of wrapped samples, as well as the “dirty” one’s hands or tools if necessary. It is clear that the drill of this core segment must be of the highest quality.
The decontamination segment of the SIBCRA team again consists of three persons. The segment builds the decontamination site on the border of the warm zone and cold zone, and provides full service to persons, material, detectors, and samples. In addition to the decontamination role, the segment is ready to evacuate the SIBCRA team in case of a man-down scenario, i.e. the situation when one member of the team is injured, incapacitated, or has damaged protective equipment that won’t allow any movement.
The last two people are the team leader and lab advisor. The leader manages all the coordination of movements and activities in and between the cold, warm, and hot zones. The leader also manages communication with all sides, down to the segments of the team deployed in the warm and hot zones, and up to the superior level as well as with the laboratory that receives samples. The lab advisor is a person with a greater academic background in CBRN agents and hazmat problematics. The advisor is the leader’s right hand in deciding what should be sampled, in what quantity, or how the sample can be stabilized to provide more conclusive evidence.
Equipment
The SIBCRA capability is equipped with a wide range of detectors and identifiers of chemical and radiological agents. The detection of biological agents is usually done by the SIBCRA team in cooperation with and under the supervision of the military medical service. The decontamination segment has several technical instruments available, from high-capacity pressurized spraying systems carried on your back to quickly deployable and very flexible low-capacity hand-held systems. The main decontamination method is the wet way, however, implementing the dry way for areas with scarce water presence has been recently considered.
The usage of variable protective equipment depends on the decision of the team leader. Deployed team members can use disposable suits with protective respirators, with filters, or in combination with self-contained breathing apparatus carried in the suit. The disposable suits can be replaced with filtration suits, hermetical suits, or one can carry the breathing apparatus in the suits using overpressure and thereby offer the highest level of protection.
The SIBCRA capability is directly related to the CBRN-EOD capability, jointly discharged with the Military Engineers. What could be seen during NCT Europe 2024 in Zagreb – during which the 31st CBRN Defense Regiment took part – can be called a “SIBCRA light”. All the SIBCRA capability segments were reduced to two people, there was no lab adviser present, and the EOD part consisted of two people providing specifically manual neutralization techniques, a limited EOD procedure requiring less equipment. The size of the EOD part can be increased according to the expected threat, with the necessary protective material and tools supplied and used accordingly.
If the CBRN-EOD capability is deployed, the decontamination segment can serve the whole asset and the manning can also be increased accordingly. The CBRN-MERT capability uses a structure and procedures similar to the SICBRA capability, however it implements more technical exploitation equipment and procedures, and the quantity or certain kinds of CBRN agent sampling may be limited, for example high volume soil or liquid samples.
SIBCRA and CBRN-MERT training is performed regularly at the national as well as international levels, and one part of the training takes place alongside activities of the military deployable laboratories. CBRN-EOD capability development is usually undertaken during national exercises implementing a wide scale of scenarios reflecting events around the globe to make sure that all capabilities are ready to respond to the latest international security and counter-terrorism challenges.
Lieutenant Michal Belšán is a member of the Analysis and Informational Support Department, established in 2018 as a supplement to the 31st CBRN Defense Regiment staff. The 31st CBRN Defence Regiment, located in Liberec, Czech Republic, is dedicated to the development and fulfilment of capabilities related to CBRN defense and hazmat challenges. With more than 20 years of professional experience in CBRN defense, Lt Belšán has served as a specialist and instructor in many positions, from CBRN recce and decontamination to warning and reporting systems, and participated in Operation Enduring Freedom (Kuwait, 2002) and ISAF (Afghanistan, 2011). Currently, besides the projects at national level, Lt Belšán also contributes to international training events and NATO exercises as an exercise control member preparing the most realistic scenarios including threat of CBRN agents release.
