Here are some of the latest products from SureFire courtesy of Warrior Expo 2011. They’ve begun to refer to themselves as a “Tactical Technology Company” and we couldn’t agree more. Watch the video to see why.
Archive for the ‘Industry’ Category
Warrior Expo 2011 – SureFire 
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Juggernaut Defense
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Juggernaut Defense will be all over the place at next week’s AUSA Annual Meeting in Washington DC; literally. They work with the best companies in the defense market. So if you are going to be there and your company has industrial design or product design needs then link up with the team from Juggernaut Defense to discuss ways they can assist you. Also, they’ll show you some samples of their latest work from the many clients exhibiting at the conference. Email info@juggdef.com to set up a meeting or give them a call on the number listed on their ‘contact’ page at www.juggernautdefense.com .
Defense Budget Cuts – Worst Case Scenario
Thursday, October 6th, 2011This document, written by House Republican staffers for Rep Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (CA – R), Chairman of the HASC, gives us the “worst case” situation for the Defense budget 2013 – 2021 if:
(1) The recommendations of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction fail to be enacted and full sequestration occurs; or
(2) The FY 2013 defense budget request is 10% below FY 2011 enacted levels, which is one scenario OMB has directed all departments, including DOD, to plan for.
Unfortunately, I think things could get worse. There’s no saying what the next 11 years will look like. However, I can say that from an industry (and writ large US economy standpoint) the thought of losing 200,000 jobs directly related to Defense and a further Million associated positions will deal a blow to this Nation that will be tough to overcome.
Worst of all, there is the loss of military capability associated with these cutbacks. It is unfathomable to consider that the US would not maintain preeminence.
So, when you hear politicians of either party talk about cutting Defense, please remind them that the Defense industry employs Americans and many of them in manufacturing jobs which are the bedrock of any healthy, long lasting economy. And then remind them that they will be responsible for weakening this Nation if they do not maintain our military’s capability to defend on Land, Sea, Air, Space and Cyberspace.
HASC Budget Impact Assessment 22 Sep 11
Ronnie Fowlkes Joins FirstSpear
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011Today, FirstSpear, announced the addition of Ronnie Fowlkes to their leadership team. Fowlkes will serve as FirstSpear’s Director of Business Development, drawing on 20 years of industry and firsthand professional user experience to compliment FirstSpear’s unique high speed, customer driven business model.
A former U.S. Marine and St. Louis PD SWAT/HRT team member, Fowlkes has been intimately involved for more than two decades in the development and delivery of top quality gear for our men and women in uniform. Prior to joining the FirstSpear team, Fowlkes served as Military Products Sales & Business Development Manager for ITW and as Manager of Business Development at Eagle Industries. In his new capacity, Fowlkes will interface directly with Professional Users from both the Law Enforcement and Military communities, utilizing his operational and business development background to further evolve and market the innovative designs created by First Spear’s Product Development Team.
“Ronnie brings 20 years of unique industry experience working with operators that rely on the performance of their equipment every day. His addition will help FirstSpear continue to expand our portfolio of tactical warfighter equipment, with a total focus on solutions targeted to the professional user,†said FirstSpear President and founder Scott Carver. “I have worked personally with Ronnie in the load carriage and personal protective product space for many years and we are excited to have him as part of our team.â€
“FirstSpear’s commitment to providing the professional user with products that offer enhanced performance with minimal weight, and their in-depth understanding of the unique mission needs of the warfighter makes FirstSpear a standout in this industry,†said new Director of Business Development Ronnie Fowlkes. “I am very pleased to have the opportunity to be a part of the FirstSpear team and am looking forward to continuing my work with the professional user community to develop and field the mission critical, high-quality gear that they need to be combat effective.â€
FirstSpear designs are produced with direct input from the end user and by developers who take into account specific mission needs, resulting in innovative, capability-driven products. The FirstSpear production facility is located in Fenton, MO and this new venture has lead to the creation of more than 80 skilled manufacturing jobs with plans to continue this growth in the near term.
Congratulations to both Ronnie and FirstSpear. It’s a great match.
Paraclete Founder Starts New Company
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011Looks like Tim D’Annunzio’s noncompete is up after selling Paraclete to MSA five years ago. He has just announced the formation of XPX Armor & Equipment based at 925 Doc Brown Road near Ft Bragg in Raeford, NC.
Over the last five years, D’Annunzio has hardly been sitting on his laurels. He went back to his roots with heavy involvement in the skydiving industry. One venture was Paraclete XP SkyVenture, a 60-foot vertical wind tunnel near Ft Bragg that is used for training. Additionally, he launched an unsuccessful bid for Congress.
In getting XPX going, D’Annunzio says he plans to initially employ 20 people but that number could eventually climb to 100. Additionally, XPX already claims to have $1 million in contracts lined up.
XPX Armor & Equipment. That’s a name to keep an eye on.
SOG Specialty Knives & Tools Responds
Monday, October 3rd, 2011SSD spoke on the phone this afternoon with SOG to discuss our article criticizing the “Faces of SOG” program. SOG spokesman Chris Cashbaugh explained their position and we suggested that they prepare a statement for our readers explaining their side of things. We understand that SOG didn’t intend to send a questionable message but rather were attempting to celebrate SGT Holubz’s service. We applaud SOG’s dialogue with us as well as with our readers and continue to support their products.
We received the story from Sergeant Holubz and immediately connected with his story as I am sure most people who have read it do. The story is harrowing and I thought we should share it with our fans and the world. Honestly, I appreciated everything that service men and women do for our country and think that they are not recognized enough. This was sort of my way to spread a little appreciation and thanks to him and the community.
A short time later we received the picture of him in in his Class A’s. We though that it would be a perfect candidate for our Faces of SOG program that we have been running through facebook for the past six months or so. Typically these have been a photo of a fan that was chosen by other fans to be our profile picture for a couple days. In his case we chose not to have a contest and just run his photo. Again we thought it was a great way honor his sacrifice and thank him. We were not intending this to be an endorsement of SOG just a way to thank one of our fans that happened to be military service member who had a harrowing experience and one of our
products played a key roll in his safety.
Not being a military person myself I was not aware of the Ethics regulations that Soldier Systems was quoting in their post. Now I know that ignorance is not a defense but had I known about the Ethics regulation we would have approached this differently. We do not want to alienate or put any of our fans in situations where they might have ethical issues, especially the ones that are key our nations success and safety. We will approach situations like this in a different manner in the future and are chalking this up to lessons learned.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention and letting SOG share our side of the story.
Thank you
Chris Cashbaugh
Marketing
SOG Specialty Knives & Tools
Congrats Nike and The US Naval Academy
Sunday, October 2nd, 2011Nothing like dishonoring the term “Warrior” by equating it with a child’s game. I’m pretty much sick of people playing games that last an hour or two equating it combat and being warriors. It gets even better when they use terms like “honor” and “sacrifice.” It’s hard to believe that the Naval Academy played right into the hands of Nike. They should know better, both Nike and the Navy. But don’t feel bad Navy, Nike did it with USMA as well. Let Nike take that crap to schools that don’t produce real Warriors and they sit around and tell each other how tough it is to play at it.
Don’t know what I’m referring to? Nike’s “Pro Combat System of Dress.” It’s not made for the battlefield. Nope, instead, it’s built for a game, and they’re using the good name of our most respected institutions to sell it.
I guess the only redeeming factor in this is that Air Force beat Navy yesterday in “combat.”
Threads
Saturday, October 1st, 2011“Threads” is a clothing and equipment newsletter published by the Australian Department of Defence for industry. It is a great resource for keeping up with the latest in Australian initiatives. One interesting article confirms that the Australians are going to domestically manufacture their recently adopted Operational Combat Uniforms consisting of consists of four different garments: Field Shirt, Field Pants, Combat Shirt and Combat Pants designed by Crye Precision. The article also verifies that these will be printed in a new Australian variant of the MultiCam pattern. Hopefully, these will be manufactured from the latest version of TenCate’s FR Defender-M fabric rather than going back to the non-FR twill that some in Australia’s opposition political party have called for after some durability issues were noted with an older version of Defender-M. This new fabric adopted last year by the USMC and recently by the US Army features twice the tear strength of the version used in the last round of OCUs.
For the access to full library visit www.defence.gov.au/dmo/news/threads/.
