SIG SAUER - Never Settle

Posts Tagged ‘KDH Defense Systems’

Industry Veteran Sam White Joins the Armor Express and KDH Defense Systems Board of Directors

Thursday, October 25th, 2018

CENTRAL LAKE, MI and EDEN, NC — October 25, 2018 — Armor Express and KDH Defense Systems (“KDH”), two leading manufacturers of high-performance protective solutions for the U.S. Armed Forces, Federal Government and Law Enforcement communities, are pleased to announce the latest addition to their Board of Directors with the appointment of industry-veteran, Sam White.

Matt Davis, Chairman of the Board of Praesidium, the holding company that owns both Armor Express and KDH stated, “Sam is a proven commodity in our industry and we are all excited to have him join our Board. The insight and experience he has gained over the past 20 years will be a tremendous benefit to our Company and all of our technology partners across the world. His understanding of ballistic science, both hard and soft armor technologies, and strong relationships within the supply chain will be leveraged for one common goal: improving our ability to advance science to save lives.”

Mr. White will continue to serve as Vice President, Applied Science with FirstSpear®, a leading manufacturer of advanced load bearing equipment and armor platforms built for the warfighter and law enforcement professional. Prior to FirstSpear, he served as Senior Executive Vice President of Point Blank Enterprises, Inc., responsible for all facets of Research & Development (“R&D”), Design & Engineering and Business Development, with a focus on advancing supply chain and customer relationships. He also held various leadership positions with Point Blank Enterprises, including President of Point Blank Body Armor and Head of Global Sales. Earlier in his career, Mr. White held various leadership and R&D positions with Armor Holdings and Allied Signal.

“I am honored to become part of the Armor Express and KDH Defense Systems family and look forward to advancing their business in any way that I can,” stated Mr. White. “I have worked with many of their executives throughout my career, and we share the same passion for developing mission-critical, life-saving technologies. I hope to leverage my relationships and experience to support the Board’s vision, while continuing to build FirstSpear’s presence worldwide.”

Soldier Plate Carrier System Saves Soldier’s Life

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

KDH posted this great clip from an ABC News embed showing how SGT Matthew Mendez was saved by his Soldier Plate Carrier. But let’s not forget that excellent ESAPI plate, Magpul PMAG, and M855 ammo that stopped the round. Well done all!

KDH Announces Convergence Armor

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

KDH Defense Systems is producing its new, lightweight ballistic pack, called “Convergence,” for the Army’s Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV). Tested to ensure that the new package meets or exceeds all Army ballistic testing standards, according to KDH Convergence has reduced the weight of the IOTV’s armor package by more than 10%.

“KDH Defense Systems continues to make significant advances in reducing the weight of Soldier borne protective technologies,” stated Jeff Payne, Special Projects Manager, Research and Development, for KDH. “This milestone marks the first actual weight reduction under the current soft ballistic requirement and the first considerable reduction since the 1.1 psf requirement was implemented in the late 1990s. With the Convergence IOTV lightweight ballistic pack nearly 10% lighter than specification, the Soldier can now much more easily accomplish his combat missions regardless of the enemy, the terrain, and the weather encountered. Reducing the weight of the armor system also provides for the opportunity to add other potential life-saving equipment such as additional ammunition to the load. This innovative, new technology has the potential to reduce the weight of every armor system under the current requirement regardless of style,” Mr. Payne concluded.

“Lighten the load has been the resounding command from the military for more than a decade,” stated SGM (Ret) William T. (Butch) Hancock, Jr., Military Program Development for KDH. He continued, “The Afghan surge, which requires more foot patrols than were carried out in Iraq, has fueled the need to make our Soldiers more agile in their protective gear by reducing the weight of their armor systems. KDH’s new IOTV lightweight ballistic pack, Convergence, is one of the lightest and most flexible packages ever selected by the United States Army.”

“The emphasis to increase the ballistic protection of the Soldier has increased his survivability while hindering his mobility and endurance,” stated David Herbener, President and Chief Executive Officer of KDH Defense Systems, Inc. “We know what we have today works, but the challenge is reducing the weight while maintaining or exceeding the identical amount of protection. We are pleased that the United States Army has chosen KDH’s new, lightweight Convergence ballistic package and we continue to look beyond the current Soldier protection systems in an effort to protect against threats that Soldiers haven’t yet encountered. KDH remains steadfast in its commitment to developing solutions that will make Soldiers more agile in their protective gear by reducing the weight and bulk of the systems while making the design of such armor much more flexible and comfortable to wear.”

KDH currently manufactures the Amy’s IOTV and Soldier Plate Carrier System as well as the USMC IMTV and Plate Carrier. They moved completely to their current ISO 9001 facility in Eden, North Carolina from Johnstown, Pennsylvania in early 2010.

Bravo to the Army as well as KDH for making this happen as reducing the weight of armor is one of our biggest challenges. KDH did receive Congressional earmarks in 2008 and 2010 to improve ballistic protection the tune of $3.36 Mil so it’s good to see a return on the investment. But, this isn’t exactly a technological breakthrough. KDH did what it could based on the materials it was allowed to work with. There are myriad armor packages available commercially that blow the previous IOTV weight per square foot standard away if you move in a different direction.

Industry insiders estimate there are currently between eight and ten certified armor packages for the IOTV with the point Blank developed Pathfinder-S being the most popular and serving as a de facto baseline that everyone else varies from. There are several methods to reduce cost for these packages but reducing weight proves very tricky considering the Army has stood by woven aramids such as Twaron or Kevlar KM2 rather than introducing unidirectional technologies which can be made from polyethylene such as Dyneema or aramids such as Goldflex. While weights drop when using the unidirectional fabrics due to their higher performance, conversely costs rise. Naturally, the lower the weight, the higher the cost.

As we have said before, if there is a true desire to reduce the load, particularly on the armor side, true quantifiable measures can be made, but someone has to foot the bill.

Correction – KDH Defense Systems In Good Standing With Navy

Monday, June 1st, 2009

On 29 may 2009 we published a story entitled “And Then There Were Three?”. In that story we incorrectly stated that KDH Defense Systems was placed on the General Services Administration’s Excluded Parties List System.

We were correct in stating that Kuchera Defense Systems was suspended from defense contracts by the US Navy. However, we incorrectly identified Kuchera Defense Systems as the parent company of KDH Defense Systems. They are in no way affiliated. Additionally, Ron and Bill Kuchera are in no way affiliated with KDH Defense Systems.

KDH Defense Systems is in good standing with the government and in no way restricted from participating in contracts including the current PEO-Soldier “Soldier Protection Demonstration IX”.

Furthermore, in the interest of full disclosure, we have accepted advertising from one or more of KDH Defense Systems’ competitors which includes one of the four competitors in the running for the PEO Soldier, Soldier Plate Carrier System upcoming potential contract; namely Tactical Assault Gear. However, while TAG is an advertiser, we maintain a policy that we do not take any editorial direction from our advertisers. Furthermore, none of our advertisers have any ownership in the website.

We apologize for any confusion this may have caused for both KDH Defense Systems and our readers.