Military Acquisition of Homemade Explosives Detection Kit

Student: Shawn Cook, 2016-2017

The US Military and para-military forces face an increasing threat of improvised explosive devices (IED). Current detection kits used are bulky, expensive and can only detect about 50 percent of the chemicals currently used to make IEDs. To solve these issues, Serim Research Corporation has developed a homemade explosives detection (HME) kit using their patented dry reagent technology. The chemical solution is embedded within the strip, making it lightweight and cost effective. The kit is practical in application and is housed within a rugged portable tackle box for safe deployment to austere environments. Additionally, Serim’s kit can detect the chemical agents that comprise 95 percent of IEDs with results in 60 seconds. Over the next 10 months, I will work with the US Military Acquisitions Corps and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to field test the detection kit with active duty military units. My goal is to help Serim obtain a government contract so that this innovative kit can quickly get to military units and law enforcement and save lives.