6 March 2003

Watford, England - Smiths Aerospace has been selected as one of two bio partners by the UK MOD Defence Procurement Agency to support an 18 month assessment phase for a Maritime Biological Detection System. The two bio partners, General Dynamics-UK is the other, were selected following a competitive evaluation by the Defence Procurement Agency's NBC IPT (Integrated Project Team) of several offers made from across the defence and related industries. The Smiths team includes Smiths Aerospace Electronic Systems (acting as prime), Smiths Detection, Smiths Aerospace Systems Customer Services and EDS Defence.

The multi million pound contract covers the assessment of candidate technology solutions for the maritime requirement and environment and then production of a proof of principle prototype. At the end of the assessment phase, a single organisation will be selected to undertake the follow-on phases including assistance with selection of incremental technology insertion and through-life management and cost reduction.

Smiths Detection has already begun examining a range of technologies to meet the immediate and future requirements. The starting point for this search is the UK’s Integrated Biological Detection System (IBDS) which will act as a capability and performance baseline. Smiths Detection is a partner in the IBDS programme and is providing the detection package for the system. IBDS is due shortly to replace the UK’s PBDS, in which Smiths Detection was also a partner. Smiths Detection has also recently been awarded a major contract to develop a biological detection system for the US Postal Service.

About Smiths

Smiths Detection and Smiths Heimann form the detection and security systems business of Smiths Aerospa