Chemical, Biological and Radiological Defence Cooperative Program
The Chemical, Biological and Radiological (CBR) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is an agreement between the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia to enable warfighters to prevent, protect against and respond to global CBR threats in any environment or mission.
The four member nations collaborate to identify, develop, field and sustain capabilities to prevent and respond to CBR events and protect our warfighters and citizens in contemporary and future operating and security environments.
There are four Working Groups within the CBR MOU:
- Assess,
- Inform,
- Protect, and
- Medical Countermeasures Consortium, which also involves public health representatives
These Working Groups work collaboratively to provide:
- information regarding the risk and threat from CBR
- advice and support to decision makers to enable informed decision making prior to, during and after CBR incidents, and
- options to protect people, equipment and infrastructure from the effects of CBR materials.
The four Working Groups are led by both a National and Science and Technology Lead from the four nations and address requirements across all levels of technology to deliver capability options. These collaborative tasks are undertaken by appropriate subject matter experts from all four nations.
Following Chief Defence Scientist approval, a two year extension was granted to the current CBR MOU, which is scheduled to expire in 2027, the partner nations are currently negotiating a replacement to ensure ongoing cooperative research can continue, providing benefit to our warfighters and first responders.
