PATRIOT PARK /Moscow Region/, August 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA) has presented a new independent automatic alert sensor for biological reconnaissance purposes, named MAAS-BR, at the Army-2023 military forum and exposition, a TASS correspondent reports.

"The device is being exhibited for the first time. We are about to complete work on its state trials for the Defense Ministry," Konstantin Styazhkin, acting director general of the FMBA State Research Institute of Biological Instrumentation, told reporters.

According to the agency’s press service, the MAAS-BR device is designed to detect biological aerosols in the air and identify them as belonging to various groups of biological agents (bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, toxins). The alert sensor can be used both on its own and in environmental monitoring laboratories, as well as in crowded public places.

"Next year, we will be ready to launch serial deliveries of these devices to the Defense Ministry," Styazhkin noted. According to him, new engineering solutions made it possible to significantly reduce the size and weight of the device; additionally, experts were able to reduce the time it takes to detect pathogenic microorganisms.

Army-2023 forum

The Army-2023 International Military-Technical Forum is taking place at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center, the Alabino shooting range and the Kubinka airfield on August 14-20. About 1,500 leading Russian defense enterprises will take part in the forum’s exhibition and business program. As many as 85 foreign companies and organizations from seven countries plan to participate in the forum. The event is being organized by the Russian Defense Ministry. TASS serves as its strategic media partner.