THE EVENT

Last month the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands’ National Training Center (NTC), was home to the 35thedition of the NCT event series, NCT Europe 2018. The three-day event took place in Vught, The Netherlands, from the 3rdto the 5thof July and was organized by the CBRNe Society and IB Consultancy in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Defense. Once again, the CBRNe Society had the great pleasure of welcoming close to 300 new and loyal delegates, speakers and exhibitors from Europe, the USA, Middle East, Asia and South America. First responders, decision-makers, military personnel, and industry representatives had the opportunity to join discussions and networking groups to improve international CBRNe defense and response, as well as to contribute to our global security.

Multinational Trainings and Live Demonstrations 

NCT Europe introduced an innovative feature: NCT Pro Trainings. Teams from different countries and units were matched to work together on solving CBRNe, C-IED/EOD scenarios. 

CBRNe incidents increasingly require an international response, which is why the focus of the trainings was multinational and multidisciplinary cooperation. It was fascinating to see two teams from different backgrounds communicating through shared skill techniques serving as a common language. A big thank you must be extended to Hotzone Solutions and MAC 7 for developing and running the training scenarios, as well as to the sponsors that provided their technologies for first responders to experiment with.

Alongside multinational trainings, and following the NCT tradition, NCT Europe 2018 also hosted daily live demonstrations under the direction of the Dutch Ministry of Defense in the fields of CBRN, C-IED and EOD. This year, the Dutch National Team Forensic Detection (LTFO), the Dutch National Institute for Public Health (RIVM), and the CBRN Response Unit (CBRN RE) also featured live displays and demonstrations with their latest novel equipment. It was the perfect opportunity to deepen the discussion about the growing CBRNe security and defense sector between industry representatives and delegates. 

NCT Europe 2018 Conferences and Workshops 

NCT Europe welcomed a panel of very high-level speakers who led discussions on a variety of topics ranging from CBRNe to EOD topics. The conference stream was chaired by Brig. Gen. (ret.) William King, former Commander of the US Army 20th CBRNE Command.

This year’s NCT Europe conference was opened by a keynote speech from the Inspector General of the Royal Netherlands combined Armed Forces Lt. Gen. Hans van Griensven followed by Mr. Douglas Bryce, Joint Program Executive Officer for Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD); Brig. Gen. Moon Sun-joon, Commander of the South Korean Army CBRN School and Col. Burg W. Valk, Commander of the Dutch Engineering Training Center of the Royal Netherlands Armed Forces. The first day of the event was kick started with the opening plenary and the thematic exhibition tours: the NCT Expo Tour provided an excellent opportunity for the delegates to learn about the state-of-the-art equipment showcased by interacting with the CBRNe and C-IED industry representatives in their areas of interest. In the afternoon the discussion in the conference room addressed new solutions in decontamination, while the workshop focused on CBRNe international military cooperation and was led by representatives of the Belgian and Dutch CBRNe military units. 

Day two welcomed a busy stream of discussions on technology and innovation, C-IED threats, protection of borders and critical infrastructures with the participation of English, German, Polish, Austrian and Brazilian speakers. The workshop stream focused on medical countermeasures for CBRNe emergencies and on the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The discussion was led by Dr. Houssam Alnahhas, Coordinator of the CBRNe Task Force of the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations. Dr. Alnahhas, who left the brutality of Syria’s chemical attack in 2014, brought first-hand experience to the workshop by sharing testimonies on how Syria’s limited response capability affect rescue operations. At the end of day, the famous NCT BBQ Reception and Party was the perfect opportunity for networking.

The topics of CBRNe civil-military cooperation and radiological and nuclear emergency management were at the center of the event’s last day. The discussions brought together speakers from the Dutch National Police, the Swiss Armed Forces NBC-EOD Center of Competence, the Dutch CBRN Defense Center, the Netherlands Institute for Public Health and Environment and the Safety Region West Brabant amongst others. The parallel workshops introduced new methods of data collection on C-IED incidents and attacks, while the second saw Prof. Peter Blain leading the discussion on the use of the Novichok agent in the Skripal poisoning which took place in Salisbury earlier this year.

The Closing Plenary: CBRNe international cooperation is the key 

The Joint Closing Plenary concluded a successful NCT Europe 2018 event. Lt. Col. Andrea Gloria, Commander of the Italian 1stNBC Defence Battalion “Adria”; Maj. Peter Balazs, Chief Engineering Officer from the Hungarian Defence Forces; and Col. Burg W. Valk discussed international cooperation in CBRNe on stage. CBRNe threats are on the rise and the frequency with which attacks are taking place all around the world is causing concerns on the accessibility of CBRN substances and explosive precursors. The parallel of the trainings and the program highlighted that multinational and multi-agency cooperation is crucial.