14 March 2003

Watford, England - Smiths Detection at Watford has received a number of orders for chemical agent monitors (CAM) from various UK police forces. The orders, received in February and March 2003, call for more than 80 units to be supplied, both the standard CAM 2 and the Enhanced CAM (ECAM).

Both of the versions selected offer the standard monitoring facility that was the original role of CAM and incorporate the CAMplus software, which enables detection of classical nerve, and blister agents as well as blood and choking agents. ECAM has an additional role, developed from the Swiss CAM requirement, of providing simultaneous detection of nerve and other (blood, blister, and choking) CW agents.

Commenting on the orders, Bill Mawer, Managing Director of Smiths Detection said, "These orders are examples of the increasing interest in Smiths Detection's chemical and biological detection products for use in counter terrorist applications. In particular, our CAM, LCD-3, Bio-Seeq, GID-3, 24/7 and NBCerberus products are attracting attention, along with our separate group of products used for explosives detection. The threat of terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction or effect is all too obvious. The response depends upon effective measures based on proven and effective detection equipment."

About Smiths :

Smiths Detection and Smiths Heimann form the detection and security systems business of Smiths Aerospace. They are both world leaders in their markets - Smiths Detection in trace detection equipment for chemical & biological agents, explosives and narcotics; Smiths Heimann in x-ray security systems to detect illegal or hazardous items and explosives. Smiths Aerospace, a part of Smiths Group plc, is the leading transatlantic aerospace equipment company, with its 12,000 staff and $2bn revenues split equally between Europe and North America.