A century after WWI, threat of chemical warfare as strong as ever: British MOD

It's Britain's most secretive and sensitive military research establishment, and as it celebrates its 100th birthday its role is crucial as ever in the 21st century.

Porton Down, spanning 28 square hectares of rural Wiltshire countryside, remains in the front line in defending Britain against new threats.

It all started with a handful of wooden huts built in 1916, half way through World War I, to house the War Department's Experimental Ground.

Spanning an initial 3,000 acres, the facility at Porton Down was created in response to the first use of chemicals as weapons by the Germans the previous year.

Now those vast hectares on the Wiltshire downs are home to the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory, or Dstl.

As a Ministry of Defense (MOD) spokesman said Thursday: "Today the threat of chemical weapons remains and Dstl still uses science and technology to tackle this threat."

Scientists and experts at Dstl carry out work for the defense and security of Britain, with its work including chemical detection, forensic analysis and developing protective clothing for Britain's armed forces.

Minister for Defense Procurement, Philip Dunne MP, visited the site Thursday to pay tribute to the vital role still played by Dstl.

Dunne commented: "Over the past century, Britain, our armed forces personnel and our citizens have all been made safer by the work conducted at Porton Down.

"With the recent announcement that Dstl will remain an important executive agency of the Ministry of Defence, Dstl is well placed to carry on this life-saving work for many more years to come, providing support to operations, ground-breaking research and expert advice for the defense and security of the UK," the minister said.

One of the important activities carried out at Porton Down during the past 100 years has been the development of military respirators.

The research and support work during that time has resulted in the delivery of numerous protection devices used by the British military to offer exceptionally high levels of protection in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear environments.

In 2015, a state-of-the-art respirator facility was opened at Porton Down, where modern life-saving respirators are tested.

Dstl chief executive, Jonathan Lyle said: "Chemical and biological defense research is what Dstl, Porton Down is best known for. But the breadth of work we now undertake at Porton Down has grown across the decades as the site has developed.

"We were first established to counter the emerging threat of gas attack in World War One. Today we exist to protect our armed forces and British citizens against a wide range of current and future threats, for example cyber."

Emerging technologies currently under the spotlight at Dstl include quantum technology, synthetic biology and big data, all potential weapons in the global battlefields of the 21st century. Endit