Rodney Boone, Mark Baker, Henry Blair- Karma! :)
ELF Racks Up Perfect Score for GAO Says Loch/ChemTech
Business Wire, Jan 23, 2000
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2000
The ELF landmine detector made a perfect score last Friday in private tests conducted at the request of Government Accounting Office representatives at the Tucson, Ariz.-based laboratory of Chemical Detection Technology, Inc. (ChemTech), a subsidiary of Loch Harris, Inc. (OTCBB: LOCH), according to Rodney Boone, Loch Harris CEO.
The two-meter bench tests for the ELF, which stands for Eliminate Landmines Forever, were staged for three representatives from the National Security and International Affairs division of the GAO, which is charged with auditing the current status of United States mine detection technology.
Boone said the GAO findings are expected to be presented to Congress in a written report by the end of March.
Dr. Henry Blair, renowned Tucson physicist who developed the ELF, said, &uot;We raised the bar of difficulty substantially today for ELF by placing all explosives samples in sealed, airtight plastic containers that were representative of techniques used by landmine manufacturers.&uot;
The GAO representatives took part in the test by personally selecting and monitoring the reshuffling of test beds while Dr. Wade Poteet, ChemTech's co-developer and operator, was removed from the test area.
The ELF went a perfect 16 for 16, accurately locating and identifying each separate buried explosive sample at a distance of two meters.
&uot;The distance and real-time readouts seemed to surprise our guests,&uot; said Blair. &uot;But,&uot; he promised, &uot;the ELF will do more.&uot;
Dr. Blair is confident that his ELF will perform just as perfectly at 30-meter distances in Croatian field tests in the near future.
Boone said tests in Croatia, which had been expected this month, had been delayed partly by extreme weather conditions and partly by the country's recent elections. &uot;Croatia's Rudjer Boskovic Institute has indicated that a mid-February date is likely for controlled laboratory tests, to be followed shortly afterward by the field tests.&uot;
