DHi® Selected to Provide MRAP Photoluminescent Lighting Kits to the Military

DHi® Selected to Provide MRAP Photoluminescent Lighting Kits to the Military

Arlington, VA (January 26, 2009)—Defense Holdings, Inc.® (DHi) has been selected by DoD to provide Emergency Egress Photoluminescent (PL) Lighting™ Kits to the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and the Marine Corps

to improve Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected (MRAP) safety and our warfighters’ emergency egress capabilities. The need for these kits is so critical that the priority rating has been established at the highest national level.

MRAP vehicles are a family of armored fighting vehicles designed to survive IED (Improvised Explosive Device) attacks and ambushes. The Joint MRAP Safety Integrated Product Team (IPT) determined that the MRAP vehicle exits and escape hatches needed to be positively marked or illuminated to aid emergency egress. After evaluations and review, the IPT selected DHi’s AfterGlow® Emergency Egress PL Lighting™ Kits to be quickly installed inside the troop compartment and driver/passenger sections of all MRAP vehicles to provide emergency, non-electrical lighting in case electrical power is lost.

 

 

Safety of Use (SOU) messages from the Army, Air Force, and the MRAP Joint Program Office (USMC/Navy/Air Force) for all units employing the MRAP vehicles have been issued directing the “Marking and Illumination of exits and escape hatches in all MRAP vehicles”. The SOU messages direct purchase and installation of “MRAP PL Emergency Egress Kits or individual PL safety tapes as needed” into vehicles as a quick safety solution. The objective is to provide the warfighter with simple and highly reliable emergency markings using our AfterGlow® PL products to identify locations of door latches/openings, grab bars and emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers in the absence of daylight or electrically powered lighting. The messages also identified DHi as the sole producer of the MRAP PL products, and they highlight our AfterGlow® MRAP PL Webpage for ordering.

Our Emergency Egress PL Lighting Kits consist of high-performance, rechargeable, long-lasting, photoluminescent film strips that provide a versatile, cost-effective, glow-in-the-dark, emergency evacuation capability that could help save our warfighters’ lives.

Currently, DHi is working with The Joint Program Office to develop Emergency Egress PL Lighting Kits specifically designed for MRAP variants. Two kits are currently available depending on the type of MRAP vehicle and the needs of each unit. They are the MRAP Basic™ Kit and the MRAP Cougar™ Kit. We are also working on others, including the Cheetah, Buffalo, and MaxxPro variants.

  • The MRAP Basic Kit consists of 100 feet of 1 inch wide PL tape with magnetic backing and 25 feet of 1 inch wide adhesively backed PL tape.
  • The MRAP Cougar Kit contains 100 feet of 1 inch wide adhesively backed PL tape, 25 feet of 1 inch wide PL/magnetic tape, 2 retro-reflective PL labels for fire extinguishers, and a number of individually wrapped alcohol wipes for preparing/cleaning installation sites.

The lengths of the magnetically backed PL tape and the adhesively backed PL tape required for the MRAP Cougar Kits are reversed because the Cougar vehicles have non-magnetic spall liners installed throughout the vehicles. Other specialized kits are being defined by the Marine Corps. National Stock Numbers have been established for both the MRAP Basic Kits and the MRAP Cougar Kits. Numerous large and small orders for MRAP kits have been received from the Army, USMC, Air Force, Navy and contractors supporting the services. Multiple requests for quotes and purchase orders continue. It is anticipated that installation of DHi’s AfterGlow Emergency Egress PL Lighting Kits will spread to many other types of military vehicles and DHi is ramping up its production capacity to accommodate the rapid pace of orders.

DHi has pioneered the safety product market and is currently the largest installer of PL safety products in the United States:

  • Our PL safety products are throughout The Pentagon and in many other locations around the country.
  • Our products are also used onboard a number of U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships and are being used extensively throughout the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77).
  • We conduct PL research and development, and we develop and manufacture/convert our PL products at our Trenton, NC facility.

DHi is a Native American and service disabled, veteran-owned, small business supported by a world-class team of dedicated engineering professionals committed to developing and delivering advanced innovative technologies to better protect and serve our Nation’s warfighters. DHi has been ISO 9001:2000registered since 2003.