Archives For Aerospace & Defense

Maryland air travel generates $6.2 billion in business revenue

Emily Kimball —  April 4, 2013
BWI air travel

Maryland air travel creates a major economic impact. Photo courtesy BWI

Air travel is big business in Maryland, a recent report from the Maryland Aviation Administration shows.

While Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport attracts the overwhelming majority of Maryland’s air traffic, 35 additional public use, general aviation and scheduled commercial service airports also serve the state.

According to the report, these 36 landing facilities produced a major economic impact between 2011 and 2012, including:

  • 102,474 direct, induced, and indirect jobs
  • $4.0 billion of personal wages and salaries
  • $6.2 billion of business revenue
  • $500 million of state and local taxes
  • $2.2 billion of local purchases for supplies and services

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70 new jobs headed to Lockheed Martin in Middle River

Tim Windsor —  February 13, 2013
Lockheed Martin's 100th Anniversary. by Jay Baker at Middle River, MD.

Lockheed Martin’s 100th Anniversary. by Jay Baker at Middle River, MD.

Lockheed Martin announced today that it will be relocating approximately 70 jobs from its Johnstown, Pennsylvania Global Supply Chain Services (GSCS) facility to its Middle River, MD site.

The company says that transition of the work to Middle River will begin immediately and will continue over the next several months. Employees in Johnstown were notified of the decision today. In a statement, Lockheed Martin said “We are working toward making positions available to qualified Johnstown GSCS employees willing to relocate to Middle River. Additional roles will be filled locally as needed.”

The Middle River location — home of the original Glenn L. Martin Company and developed in 1929 — currently employs 420. Throughout Maryland, Lockheed Martin has 7,539 active employees and nearly 5,000 retirees. In addition to Middle River, other Lockheed Martin locations in Maryland are Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Greenbelt, Hanover, Patuxent River, Rockville and Seabrook.

A company spokesperson said that the move to Maryland, which was prompted by an expiring lease in Johnstown, will save the business $1.6 million annually.

Earlier:

According to a tweet from Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, Lockheed Martin in Middle River, Maryland will soon be adding 70 new jobs.

 

Governor releasing federal facilities plan today

Tim Windsor —  February 7, 2013
Photo: creative commons via flickr

Photo: creative commons via flickr

Governor Martin O’Malley will join members of Maryland’s Federal Facilities Advisory Board (FFAB) today in Annapolis for the release of the Board’s strategic plan to support the State’s federal community.

The plan outlines more than two dozen actions the State could take to better leverage the potential of government labs, military installations and other federal facilities to drive innovation and create jobs in Maryland.

The FFAB’s 19 members were appointed by Governor O’Malley in January 2010 and since then the board has engaged businesses, federal agencies and academic institutions to develop its recommendations and conduct a thorough survey of Maryland’s federal assets.

 

Red sky at night is sign of growing space industry on Lower Eastern Shore

Tim Windsor —  January 30, 2013
NASA Photo

NASA Photo

A key component of Maryland’s growth of the space industry on the Lower Eastern Shore — Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, VA – lit up the sky on Tuesday night over a large section of the eastern seaboard.

NASA successfully launched a Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital rocket at 5:50 p.m. EST this evening from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

During the flight, two red-colored lithium vapor trails were produced. Reports from those viewing the launch or vapor trails came from as far away as the Outer Banks, N.C.; eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Wallops figures prominently as an anchor of growth for aerospace businesses on the Shore, as outlined in this 2011 report, The Business of Space Science.

Juxtopia shoots for the Moon

Nick Sohr —  May 9, 2012

By Nick Sohr, Managing Editor, MDBIZNews

Space suits, moon missions, augmented reality glasses and tennis rackets — Juxtopia has a new take on them all.

The 10-year-old company spun out of Morgan State University has evolved from its biomedical information technology roots and is a new resident of the Emerging Technology Center in the renovated former Eastern High School building. There, Juxtopia professionals, Johns Hopkins University students and city high school students are engineering software and hardware that cuts to the company’s core goal — improving human performance.

“Juxtopia has four companies, including itself, collaborating in one space, each doing its own type of innovative technology product development that has commercial potential,” said Jayfus Doswell, Juxtopia’s founder, president and CEO.

The product furthest along the Juxtopia pipeline is the company’s line of augmented reality glasses.

Google recently turned the spotlight on the technology by unveiling a conceptual demonstration of its own augmented reality glasses that would send text messages, take pictures, map routes to destinations and perform other smartphone-like tasks.

Juxtopia’s product is a blue-collar, hard-working cousin, intended for use in war zones, operating rooms, classrooms and factories. Funded by a Small Business Technology Transfer grant from the National Science Foundation, the company has been conducting research on context-aware augmented reality hardware and software since 2005.

Juxtopia plans to manufacture the goggles in Baltimore.

Doswell said there are applications in the medical field, manufacturing, education and sports, among others.

“So imagine there’s a combat medic on the battlefield, 19 years old,” Doswell says.

“He needs to provide a life-saving procedure, very fast, within 60 seconds. That medic puts on the goggles and voice retrieves the task,” he says. “Sometimes that 19-year-old medic on the battlefield, getting shot at, may not be able to [recall] the task fast enough. The goggles provide that assistance.”

The goggles would give the medic step-by-step instructions and allow him or her to document the procedure as it unfolds.

Another Juxtopia company is working on technology to embed sensors in tennis racquets that would feed data back to coaches and players.

And then there are the Juxtopia team members who hope their work here on the ground pays dividends in space.

The Solar Systems Express subsidiary is developing a new spacesuit for the commercial space industry. A sister company is working on an autonomous service vehicle that would zip from satellite to satellite to refuel and repair them, a sort of outer space AAA.

Juxtopia also has a team competing for the Google Lunar X Prize — $30 million for the first privately funded group to land a robot safely on the Moon.

Juxtopia’s team is working on a system of worm-like robots they say will be able to traverse the Moon’s surface more easily than traditional vehicles, as well as an airbag landing system.

With the airbags, spacecraft will be able to bounce on to the lunar surface at 60 miles per hour, rather than the softer 1 or 2 mph required by legacy system. The Juxtopia method is cheaper, lighter and simpler, said Blaze Sanders, a mechanical engineering graduate student at Hopkins.

“Scientists around the world will be able to more cheaply explore the entire solar system with a system that doesn’t have to worry about accurately landing,” Sanders said.

Defense firm ELTA to hire 100 in Howard County

Nick Sohr —  April 18, 2012

By Nick Sohr, Managing Editor, MDbizMedia

ELTA Systems Ltd., an Israeli defense electronics firm and the world’s fourth-largest radar manufacturer, plans to hire 100 people at its newly opened U.S. headquarters in Howard County, Gov. Martin O’Malley announced Wednesday.

ELTA North America, the company’s U.S. subsidiary, has leased 7,500 square feet of space in the county’s Maple Lawn development. ELTA plans to expand to 25,000 square feet as it hires more employees and ramps up the office to include electronics manufacturing and other services.

“We believe that leveraging the high-tech talent pool provided by the region coupled with the globally proven ELTA technology is a win-win for the customers of ELTA North America,” said David Machuga, the company’s president and CEO. “It was clear from the beginning that the leadership in Maryland at all levels is focused on economic growth and high-tech jobs. This has allowed us to move quickly to the region and begin hiring.”

ELTA Systems was founded in 1967 and is a subsidiary Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. It develops products for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance, homeland security and fire control. ELTA has annual sales of $1 billion and exports products and services to the militaries of more than 50 countries.

The state, through the Maryland/Israel Development Center, started discussions with the company about establishing its U.S. presence in Maryland in 2010.

O’Malley, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, County Executive Ken Ulman and Department of Business and Economic Development Secretary Christian Johansson met with ELTA executives throughout the process.

DBED extended the company a $300,000 conditional loan and Howard County is offering a tax credit to bring ELTA to Maryland.

“Our strategic location accessible to many U.S. and foreign markets coupled with one of the most highly-educated workforces in the country will be a tremendous benefit to the company as they look to grow their U.S. customer base,” O’Malley said.

Brown met with ELTA officials during his trade mission to Israel in 2010, and Ulman met with IAI executives during his own trip to Israel last year.

“It’s exciting to see a cutting-edge, innovative company like ELTA North America creating high-quality jobs in our communities,” Brown said.

Federal Facilities Advisory Board Tours NAS Pax River

MDbizMedia —  December 16, 2011

by Maureen Kilcullen, DBED Marketing & Communications

If the sound of the Joint Strike Fighter flying overhead didn’t tip off visitors, certainly the street signs did. Cautionary signs like “Aircraft Taking Off” and “Yield to Landing Aircraft” lined the roads on Naval Air Station Patuxent River on Maryland’s southern peninsula. But – as the Federal Facilities Advisory Board learned during a recent visit – NAS Pax River does much more than just fly jets. It’s arguably the premier R&D and Test & Evaluation facility for aircraft in the world – by far, according to Congressman Steny Hoyer, who represents the installation in Congress.

That’s a message that was hammered home during the FFAB’s tour of NAS Pax River last week. The Atlantic Test Range, Anechoic Chamber, Manned Flight Simulator, and Joint Strike Fighter – all of which were stops on the board’s tour of NAS Pax River – aptly demonstrated the breadth of activities on the base. The tour began with a look at the Joint Strike Fighter, described as “the most affordable, lethal, supportable and survivable aircraft ever to be used by so many warfighters across the globe.”

In the R&D Test Facility, board members explored the helicopter flight simulator station that helps train pilots for duty in Afghanistan. The heavily-insulated Anechoic Chamber offered a unique perspective to those brave enough to climb into the cockpit of a helicopter suspended in the chamber for testing purposes. And the Atlantic Test Range showed off the installation’s airspace and surface target areas that are used for both aircraft testing and evaluation as well as for warfighter training missions.

Roundtable Discussion

Following the tour, Senator Ben Cardin and Congressman Steny Hoyer were on hand for a roundtable discussion that focused on infrastructure, workforce development, education, technology commercialization and procurement.

St. Mary’s County Commissioner Todd Morgan, who once headed the Southern Maryland Navy Alliance, is an enthusiastic supporter of expanding NAS Pax River. “If you don’t grow, you go,” he told the board. “I’m here to grow.”

Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) actions in 1991, 1993 and 1995 did just that, bringing thousands of jobs to Pax River. Today the installation, which was commissioned in 1943, is home to three major Navy commands (the Naval Air Systems Command Headquarters, the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, and the Air Test Wing Atlantic), 52 tenant commands and several squadrons. With more than 17,000 employees, Naval Air Station Patuxent River is also the largest employer in the region.

 

Maryland: The Business of Space Science

MDbizMedia —  May 23, 2011

by Christine Hansen for MDBizMedia

Governor O'Malley outlines Maryland's competitiveness in the space industry in front of hundreds of professionals working in Maryland's space industry.

Just two years after his inaugural meeting with the Maryland Space Business Roundtable, Governor O’Malley today hailed Maryland’s space science assets and outlined a new initiative to increase business development and job growth before hundreds of scientists, engineers, astrophysicists, academics and business leaders where he unveiled Maryland: the Business of Science Space.

“We will pursue program policies to leverage our federal facilities and institutions of science and discovery to unlock the enormous economic and employment potential of Maryland’s space sector,” Governor O’Malley said.

Key components of the plan include creating a Space Development office within the Department of Business & Economic Development, establishing a space-related business incubator, advocating for a proposed National Center of Climate & Environmental Information and expanding manufacturing of satellite instruments and their components.

According to the The Space Report 2011, nearly 260,000 workers were employed in the space industry in 2009, with average salaries of $92,553, more than double the average private sector salary. Maryland ranks the third highest among the states, with an average space industry salary of $110,614.  Maryland’s space industry employment is estimated at 15,061 jobs and $1.6 billion in wages.

Governor O'Malley gets a presentation from a scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility.

The plan would also build on Maryland’s ties to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, located just five miles from the Maryland border on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.  The flight facility generates 2,341 jobs for Maryland’s lower eastern shore region, and generated $188 million to the economy.

Christyl Johnson, deputy director for science and technology at NASA, was supportive of Governor O’Malley’s plan.

“I am really excited that our leadership is focusing on STEM technology and feeding the pipeline for the future. I look forward to the role that Goddard will play in the future of climate science,” Johnson said.

Governor O’Malley asked the Space Business Roundtable to work with his administration to build the area around NASA Goddard, NOAA’s Silver Spring and Suitland campuses, and University of Maryland as the “Climate Corridor” and outlined a four-point plan to exploit and enhance Maryland’s leadership in R&D in space and earth science; commercialize space technologies to create new products, new wealth and new employment; promote launch activity at Wallops and create jobs on the Eastern Shore; and educate and train Marylanders for the space and earth science sectors.

“The breakthroughs and innovations occurring in Maryland at NASA, NOAA, Johns Hopkins APL and other institutions represent new frontiers for commercialization and business development in areas like carbon monitoring, manufacturing and life sciences,” Governor O’Malley said.

TeleCommunication Systems Unveils Cyber Intelligence Center

MDbizMedia —  May 19, 2011

by Christine Hansen for MDBizMedia

From left to right: DBED Secretary Christian Johansson, TCS CEO Maurice Tose, U.S. Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger and Anne Arundel County Economic Development Corporation CEO Robert Hannon cut the ribbon the TCS's new cybersecurity center in Hanover.

Over 100 were in attendance for the ribbon cutting of TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) (NASDAQ:TSYS) cyber intelligence center in Hanover yesterday.  The secure wireless communication technology company’s new 36,000 square foot facility will house its cybersecurity group, its satellite operations center and its East Coast Lab and data center, and is expected to hire an additional 100 employees.

“There’s not a day that goes by without a new story about a breach in cybersecurity, whether in government or in the private sector,” Maurice Tosé, CEO and Co-Founder of TCS, said.  “Of equal importance are the nation’s ongoing military operations at home and abroad – requiring secure satellite communications. These demands require immediate and intelligent action.  What we do at this facility has a profound impact on this country and our country’s safety and we take this responsibility very seriously.”

The company was founded in 1987 by Maurice Tosé and his wife, providing software development to the federal government.  In 1990, the company took off after winning a major contract with the U.S. Special Operations Command, allowing them to expand their company in the mid-90’s.

TCS CEO Maurice Tose shakes hands with Congressman Ruppersberger after they announce the opening of the new cybersecurity center.

By 2000, the company was delivering deployable communications equipment to the Secretary of State as well as the defense community.  The company was one of six vendors awarded a $5 billion Army Worldwide Satellite Systems contract for a five year period in 2006.

Today, the company processes over 40 percent of the nation’s text messages, develops wireless navigation applications, and holds more than 135 patents in the U.S. and abroad, with more than 300 patents pending.  TCS is also responsible for the nation’s first wireless 9-1-1 call, and now deploys wireless and VoIP 9-1-1 service to operators nationwide.  The company offers solutions for wireless applications, secure satellite communication systems, and cyber security.

Tosé said they chose to build their cybersecurity center in Maryland because of Maryland’s thriving IT and cybersecurity industries.

“Maryland is the ideal place to carry out our mission – its home to the best and the brightest of cyber professionals and has the infrastructure and commitment to grow in research, business and academics,” Tosé said.

“There really couldn’t be a better location for our cybersecurity center, where we will train the next generation of cyber defenders for the government and private sectors,” he said.

With locations in California, Florida, Washington, Maryland and overseas, TCS employs approximately 1,300 professionals, with plans to expand.  In 2010, the company reported $389 million annual revenue, marking six years of record revenue growth.  TCS’s first quarter results showed a 25% growth in services revenue.

“What TCS is doing here is very important and intersects with the State’s goals in a multitude of ways,” DBED Secretary Christian Johansson said.  “Maryland is home to unique cyber security assets and the opening of TeleCommunication Systems’ Cyber Intelligence Center is helping Maryland to thwart cyber attacks and make our world a safer, more secure place to live and work.”

“Our committee oversees cybersecurity and this is a serious threat – I think it’s one of the largest threats we have to deal with as a country,” U.S. Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, a ranking member on the House Committee on Intelligence, said.  “We have challenges out there – but with those challenges, we have opportunities. As long as government and the private sector continue to come together, we can tackle these challenges.”

Tosé, a member of the Maryland International Advisory Council, will be joining Governor O’Malley on a trade mission to Asia next week, and will work to help the State further develop relations with China.   The Governor is expected to travel to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, and Tosé will also be joining him there.  TCS has satellite and communications equipment in the demilitarized zone.

“Our company has a presence in Asia and we do business in other countries in the region,” Tosé said. “My goal is to help the state in any way I can – and China is a very important economy to be in.”

Federal Government Key to MD’s Economic Growth

MDbizMedia —  May 12, 2011

Federal Facilities Advisory Board Presents Interim Recommendations to Maryland Congressional Delegation

by Christine Hansen

DBED Secretary Christian Johansson and FFAB Chairman Kevin Kelly present their interim recommendations to the Maryland Congressional Delegation.

It’s been 16 months since Maryland’s Federal Facilities Advisory Board (FFAB) was appointed, and the group has been busy.  Chaired by Kevin Kelly, the group’s mission is to foster greater interaction and collaboration between the State of Maryland, federal facilities and private companies. The group presented its recommendations to the Maryland Congressional delegation yesterday in Washington, DC.

“We have looked at the impact of the federal government installations in the state of Maryland, and we found that the federal government has a huge economic impact on jobs – direct and indirect – in the State,” Kevin Kelly said.

In February, the group submitted an interim report to the Governor, which outlined a sustainable framework for the state’s business plan with federal facilities.  Maryland’s close proximity to Washington, DC, as well as its 60 non-military and 17 military facilities, has positioned Maryland as a flagship for federal R&D and advanced technological innovation.

The federal government and military installations employed over 200,000 Marylanders in 2009, representing 14 percent of Maryland’s total employment.  Together, federal facilities and military installations represented $16.6 billion in total wages, contributed $26 billion to Maryland total GDP, and spent $27.4 billion in procurement contracts with the State.

Since its formation, the Advisory Board has met with seven federal installations in the state so far, Kelly said.

“Our goal was to get to know the major installations in the State and to compile information on how we, as a State, could enhance and complement the major objectives that these agencies have,” Kelly said.

Congressman John Sarbanes and Senator Barbara Mikulski listen to recommendations of the FFAB on how the State can strengthen and grow partnerships between the State and federal government.

In its findings, the FFAB found that many of the agencies requested state assistance in accomplishing their key mission objectives in the following areas: workforce development, technology commercialization, infrastructure improvements, and federal contract procurement.  The Board is working to develop a strategy to meet the needs of those agencies.

In the upcoming months, the FFAB is scheduled to meet with Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort Detrick, and other federal facilities located in Maryland.  It will release its final recommendations to the Governor and the Maryland Congressional Delegation by January 2012.

Space – Maryland’s Frontier

MDbizMedia —  March 14, 2011

by Christine Hansen for MDBizMedia

Wallops Flight Facility. Photo courtesy of Office of the Governor

Since Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon in 1969, America’s exploration of the unknown has continued to grow, and Maryland’s space and satellite industry has been paving the way.  The NASA Goddard Space Flight Facility, for example, has called Maryland home for more than 50 years.  The Hubble Telescope was built, serviced and rebuilt in Maryland.

Space activity spending accounted for $262 billion in 2009 according to the Space Foundation’s The Space Report. In Maryland, the space and satellite industry accounts for 15,061 jobs and $1.6 billion in wages.  It’s no wonder that sixteen of the nation’s top 25 aerospace industry manufacturing and service companies are located in Maryland and are developing and applying new technologies to combat global climate change and strengthen the defense of our nation.

Integral Systems, NASDAQ:ISYS, a satellite communications solutions company based in Columbia, delivers data and information from space and terrestrial-based platforms into networks for military, government and commercial satellite and aerospace customers. The company has 230 employees and reported $44.5 million in revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2011, an increase of 17.9% compared to the first quarter of 2010. The company recently won a $4.1 million contract to upgrade NOAA Polar Ground System.

“We have been a proud Maryland incorporated and headquartered company for over 28 years now. We see Maryland as a leader in the high-tech industry,” Katy Herr, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Integral Systems said.  “I don’t think there is more of a high-tech industry than the space industry.  Between Goddard and our other civilian intelligence agencies, there is a strong government presence in Maryland. We are a leader in cyber security and there is a strong connection between cyber and space.  We see that continuing in the future.”

Intelsat, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland provides fixed and mobile commercial satellite services, serving industry and government sectors across the globe.  The company has a global fleet of 50 satellites and 8 teleports and terrestrial fiber infrastructure.  Intelsat strives to ensure that their clients save time and money.  Last year, the company was awarded the Future COMSATCOM Services Acquisition (FCSA) in Transponded Services and Subscription Services, making it possible for the US government to lease competitively priced services from satellite operations, where they previously had limited options.

The company also pioneered the Hosted Payload arena, a partnership between private companies and government entities which allows government entities to plan and implement space missions on shorter cycles and for less money. Intelsat sold a hosted payload to the Australian Defence Ministry – which is expected to be activated early next year – saving them over $150 million – compared to the amount they would spend building their own military satellite system.

The 2009 Space report broadly defines the space industry to include satellite communications and computer services companies – many of which could play an integral role in positioning Maryland as a leader in the industry.

Tony Bardo, Assistant Vice President of Government Solutions for Hughes, NASDAQ:HUGH, a broadband satellite network and services company believes that Maryland can be positioned as a leader if public and private companies continue to work with existing industry leaders and deliver citizens mobile access to critical government applications and services.  Headquartered in Germantown, MD, the company employs over 1,500 Marylanders and has annual revenue of over $1 billion.

“Increased adoption of improving speeds from the satellite industry can deliver broadband throughout the state far sooner than waiting for terrestrial build-outs, which many rural communities will not see,” Bardo said.  “Last year, Hughes was awarded a national grant of $58.7 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to provide affordable broadband to consumers throughout the U.S.  Maryland can demonstrate further leadership in this industry by adopting satellite technologies to complement its terrestrial network to achieve communications diversity and resiliency – to continue to serve the public in the event of emergencies.”

Maryland companies like Integral Systems, Hughes and Intelsat will get the chance to showcase their high-tech capabilities this week at Satellite 2011, a conference that convenes thousands of satellite professionals from across the country to Washington, DC.  Tomorrow, DBED Secretary Christian Johansson will preview findings from the recently conducted space industry economic analysis at a business breakfast hosted by the department.  Philip E. Ardanuy, president of the Maryland Space Business Roundtable, will also outline the organization’s key initiatives and the 2011 agenda. Twenty-two Maryland companies will participate in the exhibition including DRS Defense Solutions, GE – Satellite, GMV Space Systems Inc., and Saft America Inc.

U.K.’s Avon Protection Expands North American Headquarters

MDbizMedia —  March 8, 2011

Avon's Motto: Protecting the Protectors

by Christine Hansen for MDBizMedia

U.K. based respiratory protection equipment manufacturer, Avon Protection Systems, today held a dedication ceremony unveiling the expansion of its North American Headquarters in Belcamp, Md.  The company designs, develops and manufactures chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) respiratory equipment for military, first responders and federal agencies worldwide.

 

 

Avon Protection's FM12 military and tactical mask.

“This expansion is a strategic move, allowing Avon Protection to be in close proximity to the Department of Defense, which helps us provide the highest level of support to meet its needs,” Gary Dunn, vice president of sales and marketing at Avon Protection said in a statement.  “Our mission as a company is to protect those who protect us, our families and communities.  We take this very seriously and have some of the nation’s most talented engineers and industrial designers working hard to create the next generation of respiratory protection products that will improve protection of warfighters and first responders working in the field.”

 

 

As of result of the Base Realignment and Closure process, Maryland is expected to gain up to 30,000 jobs by the end of 2011.  The 16,000 square foot location will allow for Avon to increase their commerce not only in Maryland, but in the United States, and with its close proximity to Aberdeen Proving Grounds and the Department of Defense, Avon hopes to leverage its assets to the surrounding and incoming military and defense community.

Local responders and firefighters from the Harford County Division of Emergency Operations last year purchased Avon’s equipment in order to better protect them in Hazardous Materials incidents.

 

“We wanted a tight fit seal mask and we looked at several manufacturers and Avon made the best product,” said Michael Brunicke, Manager of Special Operations for the Haz Mat response team for the Harford County Division of Emergency Operations.  “In CBRN related incidents, these masks last up to eight hours, and we can do more work in dangerous environments for a longer period of time.”

Avon Protection Systems' FM50, the new generation CBRN mask.

 

 

In addition to providing masks for Harford County first responders, Avon Protection has previously worked with the Howard County Sheriff Department and the Baltimore City SWAT.  According to the company, sales have increased by 650% during the past three years. The U.K. headquarters reported a $163.5 million dollar annual revenue through September 2010.

 

“We’ve been in existence since 1885.  Our first product was actually a defense product – we supplied rubber capes to the British troops in the Crimean War, which was a long long time ago,” said Dunn.

 

Avon opened its North American doors in 1998 at a 3,000 square foot facility in Belcamp. The company has grown from two employees to 25 today.  In addition to being the main military respiratory supplier for the U.S. military, Avon has supplied the UK Ministry of Defence, and many other allies, for over 80 years.  Internationally, there is estimated to be 1.5 million of their masks being used.  In 2000, Avon Protection won the Department of Defense contract for the Joint Service General Purpose Mask (JSGPM) program – one of the largest personal protection equipment contracts in history.