foster+freeman Equipped Mobile IED Lab set for Deployment to Kyiv following 10th Anniversary
Last week Ukraine and The Netherlands signed the contract for the transfer of the Joint Deployable Exploitation and Analysis Laboratory (JDEAL). The mobile lab has been donated by the Dutch Ministry of Defence and is now set to be deployed in Kyiv as soon as possible, serving as an example of how innovative international collaboration in forensic research can contribute to the fight against impunity and the investigation of war crimes.
The JDEAL mobile lab consists of 13 easily transportable containers and can be operational within days of relocation, with the primary function of recording and analysing battlefield evidence, particularly evidence collected from IED attacks, including the investigation of both safely neutralized and post-blast IEDS.
The lab makes use of an advanced technological toolkit for both DOCEX (document exploitation) and FOREX (forensic exploitation) applications, with foster+freeman devices including VSC workstations, ESDA, Crime-lite AUTO, and RECOVER systems providing formidable examination capabilities, alongside further fingerprint analysis, DNA tracing, and mobile data extraction technology.
foster+freeman staff were in attendance at JDEAL in the Netherlands at the end of 2024, helping to provide practical training to the team of Ukrainian researchers who will be operating the lab.
A Decade of JDEAL
Following it’s inception in 2014, JDEAL recently celebrated 10 years of operation. The project was first conceived during multinational land operations in Afghanistan, and has now trained more than 900 personnel from 14 European Union Member States. Initially built on the work of EDA’s temporary lab deployed to Kabul in 2011, JDEAL now comprises a permanent joint training facility in Soesterberg, Netherlands, as well as two fully-equipped deployable laboratories. Following the donation of one of the deployable laboratories to Ukraine, the Netherlands will now also partly finance the cost of its replacement, again providing the member states with two laboratories, and ensuring they can continue their vital training and research.
Since the project began, JDEAL has been managed by the European Defence Agency (EDA) and lead by the Netherlands, bringing together Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and Norway. The United States, United Kingdom, and NATO Counter-IED Centre of Excellence have also sent observers to the project over its lifetime.
Looking Forward
Over the past decade the possible uses of the facility have evolved, with the potential now present to leverage the facility and its expertise in broader applications beyond IED analysis, responding to new threats both in Ukraine or in any threatened European area.
At a ceremony at JDEAL’s permanent facility on 11 September 2024, Rear Admiral Ad van de Sande of the Royal Netherlands Navy said the project was a testament to what Member States can achieve together. Reflecting on the changes in European since JDEAL began, he urged countries to collaborate and further develop military capabilities to keep Europeans safe: “In the past 10 years, our geopolitical context has changed considerably. We have war in Europe. We are facing the most serious threats to global security in decades, and because of this, we are shifting from wars of choice to wars of necessity.”
Citing the Agency’s work on the 2023 Capability Development Priorities (CDP), he continued: “Our transatlantic alliance is a cornerstone of European security. But Europe needs to take more responsibility. This means building credible deterrence and collective defence … strengthening our position in NATO and fostering more European cooperation, with the help of the European Defence Agency.”
Chairman of the JDEAL Management Committee, Paul Vos, underlined the need for continued innovation to the JDEAL facility to help protect against new threats, such as aerial and maritime IEDs: “Through JDEAL, we can potentially study radio techniques and frequencies used in UAVs, the types of explosives they carry, their chemical substances – and which country they come from.”
Giuseppe Dello Stritto, EDA’s Head of Unit for Land and Logistics at the Agency’s Capability Directorate, reinforced that, in a rapidly-evolving operational environment, JDEAL needs to stay ahead of potential challenges: “Counter-IED has evolved as a threat, and our military capabilities and postures need to evolve as well. So JDEAL may need to be adapted.”
Our Commitment to Innovation
As innovators in the field of forensic technology, we echo this need for continued evolution to stay ahead of new threats. Whether related to military, criminal, border control, or other wide-ranging applications, we are dedicated to undertaking the continued research and innovation needed to face the challenges of tomorrow. Learn more about our History of Innovation here.
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Learn more about the foster+freeman technologies deployed by JDEAL below:
VSC Workstations: Trusted Globally for Forensic Analysis and Beyond
Crime-lite® AUTO
Forensic imaging technology meets powerful multi-spectral illumination in this complete solution to the search, detection, and capture of evidence.
ESDA®2
ESDA® works by creating an electrostatic image of indented writing, which is then visualized by the application of charge-sensitive toners. The sensitive imaging process reacts to sites of microscopic damage to fibres at the surface of a document, which have been created by abrasive interaction with overlying surfaces during the act of handwriting
RECOVER LFT
RECOVER LFT is a cutting-edge chemical vapor fuming process to develop fingerprints on a range of difficult surfaces including those that have been exposed to extreme heat (discharged bullet casings, for example) and items that have been washed ‘clean’ in an attempt to prevent identification.