Play all audios:
Widely used in India by bomb detection squads and the armed forces since 2002, the handy kit would be manufactured and sold in the US. It looks like a little pocket sized cigar box, but it
packs a mighty punch in the fight against terrorism. And now this nifty explosive detection kit, developed by the India's Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO), is all
set to play its part in the US too. Widely used in India by bomb detection squads and the armed forces since 2002, the handy kit would be manufactured and sold in the US and other parts of
the world by Summerville, South Carolina-based Crowe and Company LLC under a technology transfer agreement. "We are planning to introduce the EDK to the US Army and US homeland security
forces and in other international markets after getting necessary approvals from the US regulatory institutions," said Fay Crowe, CEO and president of the company. A few drops of four
reagents contained in four vials can detect explosives based on TNT, RDX, dynamite, and black powder within minutes with no more than 3 to 5 milligrams of the suspected sample. It also does
not require field calibration, power or peripheral devices. Besides the wallet sized disposable kit for covert and military operations, it's also available in vanity sized field cases
for law enforcement and bomb squads. And personnel can be trained in its use in just a couple of hours. A team of Indian scientists led by DRDO Director General, Avinash Chander, the chief
architect of Agni series of ballistic missiles, was at hand for the global launch of the edk at a function at the US Chamber of Commerce here Friday. Chander was upbeat over first of DRDO
developed products getting globalised with the transfer of Indian technology to the US which not long ago looked at the DRDO "as a very reluctant supplier". DRDO is now talking to
the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI), which was instrumental in the launch of EDK in the US, for the roll out of 50 more DRDO-developed technologies for the international
market under the DRDO-FICCI Accelerated Technology Assessment Commercialisation programme. Significance of the launch of India developed edk in the US was also not lost on the audience made
up of US defence bigwigs, including former US defence secretary William Cohen, who hoped that such technology transfer would soon become a two way street. The launch of edk in the US was
significant in more ways than one, said the Indian ambassador Nirupama Rao describing the transfer of technology developed in India to the US as "an important milestone in the process
of evolution of India-US strategic partnership."