Defence Secretary visits Porton Down on its centenary of service
Above:
Mr Fallon with the Enigma coding machine.
As Dstl marks 100 years of defence operations at the Porton Down site, the Defence Secretary was shown an Enigma coding machine, invented by a German and used by Britain to decipher German signals during World War Two. He was also shown a present day encryption device.
Scientists, engineers and analysts at the site told Michael Fallon MP about some of their work, including support to the Armed Forces on operations, providing forensic analysis and cyber defence.
Reflecting on the work at the site, Michael Fallon said: “Dstl continues to carry out vital work at a site which has a long history of protecting our Armed Forces, whether through the development of respirators, or innovative new body armour. The ground breaking research continues to help defend the UK from a multitude of threats."
Dstl maximises the impact of science and technology (S&T) for the defence and security of the UK, supplying sensitive and specialist S&T services for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and wider government.
Dstl is an Executive Agency of the MoD, run along commercial lines, as one of the principal government organisations dedicated to S&T in the defence and security field, with three main sites at Porton Down, near Salisbury, Portsdown West, near Portsmouth and Fort Halstead, near Sevenoaks.
It works with a wide range of partners and suppliers in industry, in academia and overseas. Around 60% of MoD’s Science and Technology Programme is delivered by these external partners and suppliers.