The Swedish Army Orders Four Additional Containerised DECOCONTAIN Full - Decontamination Systems GDS 2000 decontamination agent takes centre stage at the "CBW Protection Symposium" in Gothenborg, May 2007

Winnenden, May 2007 – SANERINGSUTRUSTNING 06 - The Swedish Army continues to count on the latest DECOCONTAIN generation. As announced at the „CBW Protection Symposium“ (May 22 to 25, 2007) in Gothenborg, the largest symposium worldwide on protection against chemical and biological warfare agents, the Swedish Ministry of Defence placed a follow-up order for the containerised DECOCONTAIN 3000 GDS full-decontamination systems (Swedish: SANERINGSUTRUSTNING 06), which are specifically designed to meet the requirements of the Swedish Armed Forces. The Scandinavians already received two systems last year. Now, the procurement office of the Swedish Army took advantage of the option of four additional systems which will be delivered to Umea in North Sweden by the end of this year. The complete delivery also includes the revolutionary GDS 2000 decontamination agent which, last but not least, became a major focal point due to specialist speeches at the “CBW Protection Symposium“ in Gothenborg. Further background: already in spring this year, the Dutch Army replaced their DS 2 decontamination solutions with the non-aqueous GDS 2000 decontamination agent. Positive result: During the course of the Symposium, experts from all over the world enquired about GDS 2000 causing a great deal of excitement at the Kärcher Futuretech stand. “After its market launch, GDS 2000 became quickly accepted”, comments Kärcher Futuretech Sales Manager Wolfgang Kliem on the new order from Sweden. “The SANERINGSUTRUSTNING 06 project has proved to be very successful.“  

With the containerised DECOCONTAIN 3000 GDS, the Swedish Armed Forces now have a new high-quality generation of professional decontamination equipment. Many armed forces within the NATO and various Arabic countries now rely on DECOCONTAIN which can also be used for civil defence tasks.

Details:

The DECOCONTAIN 3000 GDS was designed and constructed for the application of revolutionary non-aqueous decontamination agents such as GDS 2000 and forms the technical basis for the quick set-up of a decontamination site.

The DECOCONTAIN 3000 GDS also represents the state of the art in its performance class. Due to its modular construction, this decontamination system can be set up readily and flexibly and is adaptable to the operational situation. Its range of application can also be enlarged using a suitable “Winter Kit” and further highly effective decontamination agents. Operation at very low temperatures is no longer a problem because the revolutionary GDS 2000 enables the reliable decontamination of chemical warfare agents even under extreme winter conditions which are often the case in Scandinavia. In addition, the decontamination agents foreseen for the DECOCONTAIN 3000 GDS fulfil the strict regulations of reliable environmental protection.

The DECOCONTAIN 3000 GDS is equipped with a central high-performance genset (approx. 57 kVA) and an insulated heatable 3,000 l water tank which make the system independent to a large extent. The potential of the DECOCONTAIN 3000 GDS can be seen from the fact that, within just one hour, the system can simultaneously decontaminate up to 100 persons and up to 12 medium-size armoured vehicles or up to 20 other vehicles. Alternatively, a 600 m long road section can be decontaminated within one hour using this system.

In consideration of the huge increase in environmental awareness, Kärcher has developed a new non-aqueous decontamination agent (GDS 2000; NATO Supply No. 6850-12-366-1321) against chemical warfare agents which has important advantages compared to the known decontamination agents with regard to storage, handling, efficiency, application and corrosiveness as well as a considerably improved ecological behaviour. It is produced industrially and is available ready for application. It meets the requirements of water pollution class 1 (low hazard level to waters) and is biologically degradable. For example, the complete detoxification of a combat tank requires only 12 to 24 litres of GDS 2000. The high decontamination efficiency of GDS 2000 against all relevant chemical warfare agents (including chemical warfare agents containing thickeners) has been proven in many laboratory and field tests carried out by WISABC-SchutzBw and other independent test institutes.

Kärcher Futuretech plans, develops and produces systems and devices that help to solve the problems of the future. Kärcher Futuretech Systems with their patented, forward-looking problem solutions are in daily use within more than 100 armed forces, civil defence and relief organisations all over the world.