Force Protection, Inc. was a manufacturer of ballistic- and blast-protected vehicles from the United States which have been used in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
,
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
and other hot spots around the world. The company was acquired by
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...
in 2011.
Company
The company traces its roots to Sonic Jet Performance, Inc., a
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
speed boat
A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine.
Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...
company founded in 1997. When the boat business hit tough times after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a new investor Frank Kavanaugh stepped in and looked to alter the direction of the business. Kavanaugh financed and secured the rights to a new line of products in support of the company's Mission to Protect and Save Lives. Around that time, the team identified an insolvent company in
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
called Technical Solutions, building a prototype of a mine-resistant vehicle called
Buffalo and attempting to build a smaller vehicle called the Cougar/Tempest
MRAP
Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP; ) is a term for United States Armed Forces, United States military light tactical vehicles produced as part of the MRAP program that are designed specifically to withstand improvised explosive device (IE ...
(Mine Resistant Ambush Protected). Technical Solutions was struggling and required a new strategy and additional resources. The products were designed using commercial components, and utilized a strategy to allow them to be rapidly rebuilt in the field.
Kavanaugh, the company chairman and largest investor, rebranded the company Force Protection, added rapid design capability, a focus on product quality, large scale production, and technical talent including the addition Dr. Vernon Joynt an internationally recognized blast expert. Over a 3-year period, the new management team retooled the vehicles and developed the production capability of the business to almost $1.3 billion in annual sales - by integrating high quality US automotive components with an innovative and effective blast resistant chassis.
The heavily armored trucks featured a
V-hull
The V-hull is a type of vehicle armor design used on wheeled armored personnel carriers (APCs), infantry mobility vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) and MRAPs. The design originated in the 1970s with vehicles such as the iconic Casspir ...
design that deflected underbody blasts away from the passenger compartment, and with Dr. Joynt's expertise the products were enhanced to address side-blast from IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) that had become a primary cause of injury and death for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The base designs secured from Mechem (
South African government
The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary republic with three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary system. Legislative authority is held by the Parliament of South Africa.
Executive authority ...
) resulted in two U.S. models: the Buffalo, a huge, mine-clearing truck, and the Cougar, which was smaller and more versatile, and through the company's R & D efforts with Dr. Joynt several innovations and improvements such as the Cheetah, and
Spaced Armor
Armour with two or more plates spaced a distance apart falls under the category of spaced armour. Spaced armour can be sloped or unsloped. When sloped, it reduces the penetrating power of bullets and solid shot, as after penetrating each plat ...
.
Force Protection initially struggled with its first small
MRAP
Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP; ) is a term for United States Armed Forces, United States military light tactical vehicles produced as part of the MRAP program that are designed specifically to withstand improvised explosive device (IE ...
contracts in 2002 through 2005. At first the company had less than a dozen people on its early production line. At times the prototype approach took five weeks to build one Cougar. The
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
fined Force Protection more than $1.5 million for initial delivery delays. Kavanaugh focused on moving from a prototype production environment to sustainable volume production methods.
The team overcame these issues, developed agreements with other defense industry manufacturers such as
Armor Holdings
Armor Holdings, Inc. was an American manufacturer of military, law enforcement, and personnel safety equipment. It was acquired by BAE Systems on July 31, 2007 and renamed BAE Systems Mobility & Protection Systems. The divisions have been reorgani ...
and
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
, as well as a joint venture company with
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...
("Force Dynamics"), to merge Force Protection's proprietary designs with the manufacturing capacity necessary to meet increasing demand. Force Protection received several contracts as part of the
MRAP
Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP; ) is a term for United States Armed Forces, United States military light tactical vehicles produced as part of the MRAP program that are designed specifically to withstand improvised explosive device (IE ...
program, supplying blast resistant vehicles to American forces in Iraq, but with Kavanaugh's departure in 2007 the remaining team lost focus and chose not to introduce an innovative JLTV category vehicle known as Cheetah. This led ultimately to the sale of the company to General Dynamics as orders were increasingly placed with rivals companies.
Product Line
*
Cheetah
The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...
– Thirteen Cheetah
prototype
A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...
s were produced in 2005 and available in 2006 & 2007. Intended for
urban
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of people ...
operations,
reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
, and forward command and control, no contracts were signed for the Cheetah.
*
Cougar
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...
– The Cougar is a medium-sized
mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
-protected vehicle for command and control,
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
prime mover, recovery and
ambulance
An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport.
Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...
duty. The Cougar has been in service with a number of armed forces since 2002.
**Cougar H
4×4 can carry 4 troops and an EOD robot.
**Cougar HE
6×6 can carry up to 12 troops.
*
Buffalo – The Buffalo is designed principally for route clearing activities, asset protection, urban weapons systems, and command and control. The Buffalo has been in service with a number of armed forces since 2003
*
SPECTRE
Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to:
Religion and spirituality
* Vision (spirituality)
* Apparitional experience
* Ghost
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writ ...
– The SPECTRE light vehicle (formerly JAMMA) prototype. Offered to
SOCOM in 2012, no contracts were signed.
*
Ocelot
The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwes ...
– The Ocelot, which is designed and built in the United Kingdom by
Force Protection Europe
Force Protection Europe (FPE) was the European subsidiary of Force Protection Inc, which was acquired by General Dynamics in 2011. The UK-based company developed the Ocelot (vehicle), Foxhound, a light-weight mine-protected military vehicle, wh ...
, is a light protected patrol vehicle (LPPV) ordered in 2010 to replace the UK military's
Snatch Land Rover
The Snatch Land Rover is a protected patrol vehicle based on the Land Rover Defender 110 chassis. Intended for general patrolling in low-threat areas, the vehicle was developed in 1992 for use in Northern Ireland. It provides a limited degree of ...
.
See also
*
ILAV
’Hansanagari’ but well known as Hansot is a village in Bharuch district, Southern Gujarat, India. It is about southwest of the city of Bharuch, and south of the Narmada River. The village and its surrounding ''taluka'' were acquired by th ...
References
External links
General Dynamics Land Systems - Force Protection websiteYahoo! - Force Protection Inc. Company Profile
{{Automotive industry in the United States
Companies based in South Carolina
Defense companies of the United States
Military vehicle manufacturers