Don’t Be Scared — Be Ready

As an investor and analyst, I’ve made out pretty well banking on the defense sector. However, focusing on the latest war-fighting and national security tech, I’m often forced to contemplate the unimaginable.

A chemical, biological, or nuclear attack, for instance.

I’ll admit it’s not pleasant to think about. But the world we live in isn’t always a pleasant one.

Just consider that Russia has been telegraphing a potential nuclear strike on Ukraine throughout the course of its invasion. And as that war continues to grind on, such a strike becomes increasingly likely.

Indeed, Russia has utterly failed in its quest to re-absorb its neighbor. So much so that it’s now pulling in auxiliary troops from North Korea.

A new Pentagon report even specifically warned of Russia’s growing desperation.

“The weakness exhibited by Russia’s conventional forces in their invasion of Ukraine may increase Moscow’s reliance on nuclear capabilities going forward,” the report from the Defense Intelligence Agency noted.

Russia has also resuscitated a Soviet-era chemical weapons plant called Sergiev Posad-6. The lab has a decades-long history of experimenting with biological weapons, including smallpox, Ebola and hemorrhagic fevers.

Chemical and biological weapons are also a concern in the Middle East, where hostilities are running hot between Israel and its Western allies and Iran and its coalition.

Again, that may be unsettling, but it’s also my job, which is why I recently attended the 2024 CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiation, and Nuclear) Defense Conference and Exhibition.

If it’s any consolation, it’s not often we have a CBRN emergency, which more typically results from either an accident (like a nuclear meltdown or chemical spill) than a terrorist attack or armed conflict.

Nevertheless, such instances are absolutely devastating when they happen — Fukushima, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, etc. — so it’s obviously really important to defend them and mitigate the fallout when they do occur.

To that point, I saw some really interesting technology that’s been developed to do just that.

The first were drones outfitted with CBRN diagnostic/detection technology.

The ones I saw included this one, made by BlueHalo…

And this one, made by FLIR…

These are really good companies with strong products. In fact, I was gearing up to recommend FLIR as an investment before it was scooped up by Teledyne in 2021. (BlueHalo is privately held.)

Nevertheless, these drones are capable of scanning huge areas for potential contamination/threats.

For example, a typical cargo ship carries anywhere from 5,000–20,000 shipping containers, making it impossible to check every individual unit.

However, these drones could do just that simply by flying around the ship and flexing their diagnostic tools.

The BlueHalo UAV can even construct a 3D map of the area that highlights the source of any emanation it detects.

There are hand-held ground tools that do the same thing, of course.

Like the ChemProX made by Bertin Technologies…

A first responder would use this to track down the source of a contamination and then drop a pin on a digital map on a shared cloud.

But if you want to know which toy was my favorite, it was this…

This is the Argos made by Alakai Defense Systems.

The rep had me point the laser at a cellophane bag full of white powder from 10 feet away and it identified the contents’ chemical signature.

It’s lightweight, has a two-hour battery life, and can be held or mounted on robotic vehicles or UAVs.

That’s just some of the technology that’s now being deployed to detect and mitigate CBRN crises.

And while these companies are private, there’s a lot we can take away from the technology, including trends and potential parts suppliers.

Tech trends in particular included things like more virtual/augmented reality training and drones to keep humans from contaminated spaces altogether.

If you’ve been following me at Secret Stock Files, we’ve been following both AR and drones very closely these past few years. We’ve even netted some nice gains in the process, and there are still more to come as the technology is relatively nascent.

I also heard from some of the nation’s top experts on the subject and they had some sobering things to say.

For instance, one of their biggest concerns right now is that AI will be used to develop chemical superagents or biological weapons.

Russia and North Korea, meanwhile, continue to top the list of nation states that could deploy chemical or nuclear weapons. The threat they pose to global security is very real.

So there’s a lot to consider in just this one small aspect of warfare and technology.

And I’ll continue to put all the information to good use as I scour the industry for potential investments. Find my latest for Secret Stock Files here.