DHi Breaks Ground for New North Carolina Facility

Trenton, NC (October 5, 2006)—Defense Holdings, Inc. (DHi) jointly announced today that a new multipurpose facility would be built in the Jones County Industrial Park in Trenton to house the company’s Operations and Technology Development Center (OTDC).

“This new facility will be the hub of DHi’s research and development and industrial activities in North Carolina,” said company president and CEO Richard J. Martin at groundbreaking ceremonies here, attended by local and state officials, including State Representative William L. Wainwright who introduced Mr. Martin at the event.

The new center, scheduled for completion in 2007, will house a number of business activities, including managing work for military customers and conducting R&D in high-performance photoluminescent (PL) safety materials for use in military and civilian environments. The company will hire new workers to convert bulk PL materials into finished products for a variety of safety applications, and will also conduct assembly of metal fiber brush kits to be used by the U.S. Navy submarine fleet.

While bringing new jobs to Jones County, DHi—whose corporate headquarters are located in Manassas, Virginia—hopes to help area veterans remain here when they retire by providing civilian jobs geared toward assisting the military in the high-technology arena, particularly in North Carolina’s eastern region. It’s a business tactic that has worked well for the company before, leading to the establishment of local offices in Dover, New Hampshire and Annapolis, Maryland. Mr. Martin thinks that retiring North Carolina vets and their families “would prefer to remain in the state if the right post-military employment opportunities existed here.”

Why Jones County? Mr. Martin and his senior staff were impressed with the business incentives that a high-level delegation of state and county officials, with strong support from Governor Mike Easley, presented to DHi in a meeting in Manassas early in the summer. That presentation, coupled with a willing local workforce and the close proximity of major military installations to Jones County, ultimately helped clinch the deal.

DHi is a world-class team of dedicated engineering professionals committed to developing and deploying innovative technologies to advance the national interest and improve the lives of all Americans. A proven provider of professional engineering services to the Federal government as well as the private sector, DHi was founded in 1994 in Manassas, Virginia, where it maintains its corporate headquarters. Historically, DHi has focused on high-end R&D engineering to support the Nation’s warfighters both here and abroad. More recently, the company broadened its Federal contract portfolio to include a significant number of additional agencies.