Manassas Park Company Awarded Multi-Million Defense Contract

Defense Holdings, Inc has recently been awarded a  US Department of Defense contract to produce Photo luminescent Emergency Egress Lighting Kits. The kits will be used to mark the exits of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAP) which are currently being used by the US military and its allies in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Greg Bender, vice president of the company said that the military first approached DHI after a group of soldiers were killed in the MRAP following an IED attack.

The soldiers survived the initial attack, but were thrown into a ditch filled with water. It was dark and the soldiers could not find any of the emergency exits. They were all drowned.

After the tragic event, the military wanted to find emergency lighting solutions to clearly mark emergency exits, Bender said, to prevent deaths like these in the future.

DHI will provide the military with more than one million feet (or about 193 miles) of photo luminescent marking film. The film, Bender said, absorbs light, both daylight and artificial, and glows for a long period of time. They will supply both adhesive and magnetic backed film to be installed in MRAPs.

“Though these were designed for use on MRAPs, we have learned that they are being used on other types of vehicles as well,”said Rich Martin, DHI president and CEO in a press release. “War fighters tell us that these kits are both easy to install and highly effective.”

This is not the first time DHI has been awarded such a contract, Bender said. After Sept. 11, they were  asked to install a similar product in the Pentagon. The company's work on that project will finish later this month.

They've also used photo luminescent paint on aircraft propellers on carriers to prevent people from running into them, and on stairway treads in buildings to clearly mark exit routes. It's also been used in school buses and navy ships.

DHI has been in business since 1996, but moved to Manassas Park a few months ago. Aside from photo luminescent products, the company also makes electrical components for ships and aircraft.