NEW MADRID - Kontek Industries will demonstrate its steel bollards, vehicle barriers, mobile troop housing with mortar shield roof, erectable mortar shield canopy and .50 caliber armor-proof, blast tested guardhouse at the invitation-only 5th Force Protection Equipment Demonstration at Quantico Marine Corps Base, Va., this week.
FPED provides a venue to show state-of-the-art, commercial off-the-shelf force protection equipment to senior leaders and decision makers from the Department of Defense, federal departments and agencies.
"This a tremendous opportunity for us to showcase our state-of-the-art, field-tested and certified, force protection products in front of the military's key decision-makers," said Don Utz, president of Kontek.
In response to previously identified threats such as: rocket-propelled grenades, vehicle-based improvised explosive devices and mortar artillery, Kontek refocused its force protection R&D efforts. Kontek now has products that are certified and field-tested to withstand the continuum of threats currently facing U.S. troops overseas, Utz said.
The research, conducted by the University of Missouri-Rolla's Rock Mechanics and Explosives Research Center, was carried out and field-tested at UMR and U.S. Air Force Research Labs in Florida as part of the $2.4 million Department of Defense research grant awarded to Kontek and UMR. This was included in the FY 2005 defense bill by Missouri Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson, and Missouri Senators Jim Talent and Christopher "Kit" Bond.
FPED was organized after the bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia on June 25, 1996. That attack led to a decision by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to direct the services to investigate and identify equipment designed to reduce vulnerabilities of Department of Defense personnel and facilities from terrorist attack.
The first FPED was conducted at Quantico Marine Corps Base in September 1997. The demonstration has become a biennial event and is one of the top venues to showcase and demonstrate force protection equipment.
FPED IV attracted 500 vendors who displayed over 2,300 products and attracted 7,000 attendees. FPED V is expected to host more than 500 new and returning exhibitors. The event is sponsored by the Department of Defense Physical Security Equipment Action Group and co-sponsored by the Joint Staff's Directorate of Operations for Combating Terrorism, the Department of Energy, the Technical Support Working Group, and the National Institute of Justice.
Kontek Industries, headquartered in New Madrid, is a company that helps solve homeland security and defense-related challenges in the private and public sectors. The company manufactures the world's most technologically advanced vehicle and delay-access barriers, blast resistant barriers, L-8 and NIJ-4, .50 caliber armor-proof, blast tested shelters, mobile mortar-proof troop housing, erectable mortar shield canopies, and telecommunication shelters in its 150,000 square-foot facility.
Kontek has provided modular blast barriers to the United States Air Force Force Protection Command and Control Program Office. It has also provided vehicle and delay access barriers to 12 nuclear facilities throughout the United States and to two national security facilities: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories.