US DHS purchases $6 million of Teledyne FLIR indentiFINDER R425 devices
Teledyne FLIR Defense has announced that the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office has placed a $6 million order of identiFINDER® R425 handheld radionuclide identification devices.
The purchase will be managed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the new R425 handheld radiation detection units will be bound for fire departments, emergency management agencies and police departments.
In a press release published on Tuesday 20 October, Teledyne FLIR Defense said that they have been "equipping the nation’s disaster preparedness community with state-of-the-art detection technology as part of the Securing the Cities’ Mobile Detection Deployment Program since its beginning".
"The programme was originally established in the wake of 9/11 to reduce the risk of successful deployment of radiological or nuclear weapons against large urban centres in the United States. The supply of identiFINDER R425 units will further this goal in Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, New York, Seattle, Atlanta, Boston, and other key cities throughout the country.
"Teledyne FLIR Defense will also be supplementing the programme through ongoing training events including regional workshops, hands-on exercises, and ongoing technical engagement for end users," the release continued.
As a widely deployed radionuclide identification device with over 25,000 units in the field, the identiFINDER R425 offers 360-degree coverage to locate and measure gamma and neutron radioactive sources from a compact, handheld interface. The R425 allows operators to remotely take command and communicate results in any nuclear threat scenario or environment, including those with extremely high gamma fields, without endangering the operators.
This order of identiFINDER R425 units builds on the existing inventory distributed by the program for first responder use since 2021. The first wave of new detectors will be rolled out to 10 major metropolitan areas throughout the United States within the coming weeks, with additional deliveries arriving in Q4 2026. The identiFINDER R425 is designed and manufactured in Teledyne FLIR Defense’s Oak Ridge, Tennessee facility.
