BlastGard Nabs Small Award
for Marines; Developing Vehicle
Protection Solution
BlastGard International [BLGA] received an initial $46,000 contract from Colt Rapid Mat LLC as part of a Marine Corps order for blast mitigation products to be used in Iraq, giving BlastGard a toe-hold in a new but potentially significant market for its technology.
The Marine’s contract with Colt Rapid Mat, part of Colt Defense, is for $186,000, and calls for the immediate delivery of 200 pieces of a casing material made by Colt and BlastGard that contains BlastGard’s BlastWrap technology for use in protecting fortification walls, overhead areas of bunkers, temporary shelters, traffic checkpoints and other things. In addition the two companies will also deliver the Blast and Thermal Suppression (BATS) casing material for seven Rapid Deployment Fortification Wall (RDFW) JEFF Kits supplied by Geocell Systems, Inc., to the Marines.
BlastGard’s BlastWrap, which is SAFETY Act certified, is the core technology behind its best selling product, which is blast mitigating trash receptacles. The material, which somewhat resembles bubble wrap used in packaging, absorbs blast pressures and the fire caused by an explosion.
The contract follows demonstrations of the BATS and RFDW at the Marine Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif. Rather than continue testing there Marines in Fallujah, Iraq, said they “know” the product works and wanted to put it to use against the enemy, Jack Waddell, president and chief operating officer of BlastGard, tells TR2. While the casing material will be put to operational use the initial purchase is still for test articles, he says.
Waddell says the market potential comes down to “how many square feet in a military theater need protection from attack.” A lot, he says.
The demonstrations at Twentynine Palms showed significant improved protection from severe improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and vehicle-borne IED threats, BlastGard says.
Fortified walls, whether made with sandbags, earthen materials or manmade materials, can stop bullets and bomb fragments but blast pressures and fireballs often go over and around the ends of these structures causing damage to whatever and whoever is behind them, Waddell says. The BATS material not only enhances the protection of these structures against bullets and fragments but dramatically limits the blast pressure a bomb creates behind these fortifications, he says.
In the tests at Twentynine Palms pressure transducers and high speed video cameras were used to gauge the effects of a
BlastGard’s Numbers
3Q06 3Q05
Sales $4.4K $481.1K
Net Inc. ($708.7K, $0.03) ($378.3K, $0.02)
101 pound TNT charge placed against a wall. The scenario was set up at the suggestion of explosive ordnance disposal-trained Marines in Iraq to simulate either a vehicle borne IED threat or a very large backpack charge at zero standoff.
“The pressure and video results from the... demonstrations suggest that a 101-pound TNT blast in contact with a standard soil filled wall could generate potentially lethal results as far as 40 feet behind the wall,” Waddell says. “The same blast against a BATS-protected RDFW wall reduces the probability of physiological injury 40 feet behind the wall to zero.”
There are four different iterations of the BATS product that are being supplied to the Marines. One is for the enhanced RDFW. Another is for top-side bunker protection against mortar and rocket attacks. A third is a “post form” for pressure mitigation at the sides of a wall and another is for use with “Texas Barriers,” which are similar to the “Jersey Barriers” used as highway dividers but only larger. Texas Barriers are used extensively in military areas in Iraq for traffic control, anti-breach protection, and other uses, Waddell says.
Vehicle Protection
Military fortifications happen to be just one of the new markets BlastGard is seeking for its technology. Another is tactical wheeled vehicle armoring, Waddell says.
BlastGard is helping to design its BlastWrap technology for installation underneath and on the sides of military vehicles to provide both blast and thermal mitigation, Waddell says. Traditional vehicle armoring “doesn’t do any good” in mitigating blast and thermal pressures, which can cause neck, head and spinal injuries to the occupants inside the vehicle, he says.
Colt Rapid Mat will be working with BlastGard on the vehicle armoring effort, which will be led by VSE Corp. [VSEC], who is responsible for the overall engineering effort. VSE contracts with the Army and Marines in the Iraqi war theater to maintain and repair military vehicles. The company also does similar work in the U.S.
“VSE understands all of the U.S. military vehicles,” Waddell says.
Testing of the new armoring solution is expensive and will require military funding, Waddell says. BlastGard expects testing to begin at the Nevada Automotive Test Center later this year and vehicle testing for retrofit kits to also take place this year in the Middle East. He expects the development work to move ahead quickly. Adding the BlastGard/Colt technology solution will not add much mass or weight to the vehicles, he adds.
