Combined Systems, also branded as Combined Tactical Systems (CTS), is an American company specializing in the manufacture of less-lethal military and police equipment such as

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...

canisters,

flash grenade A stun grenade, also known as a flash grenade, flashbang, thunderflash, or sound bomb, is a non-lethal explosive device used to temporarily disorient an enemy's senses. Upon detonation, a stun grenade produces a blinding flash of light and an ex ...

s, breaching munitions, and

handcuffs Handcuffs are Physical restraint, restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists in proximity to each other. They comprise two parts, linked together by a Link chain, chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each cuff has a rotating arm whi ...

. It supplies these products to police and military in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

as well as

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and other countries. Evidence has also been collected by the

War Resisters League The War Resisters League (WRL) is the oldest secular pacifist organization in the United States, having been founded in 1923. History Founded in 1923 by men and women who had opposed World War I, it is a section of the London-based War Resisters' ...

that its products have been used to disperse protests in Tunisia, Chile, Bolivia, Guatemala, Germany, Netherlands, India, East Timor, Hong Kong, Argentina, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Cameroon, Colombia, Sierra Leone, the United States and Egypt. The company's main manufacturing plant is in

Jamestown, Pennsylvania Jamestown is a borough in northwestern Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the Shenango River. The population was reported as 580 on the 2020 census. It is part of the Hermitage micropolitan area. History The town was founded in ...

History

The company was founded by Michael Brunn and Jacob Kravel and is owned by Point Lookout Capital Partners. Discovery of the use of tear gas produced by the US company in various police actions against demonstrations around the world was met with controversy in the social media discussions related to events of the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

. In February 2012, the online activist group

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

claimed to have hacked the company's website in retaliation for the company's supply of protest suppression weapons to various countries. On November 25, 2019, MarketWatch, Inc. reported that the Carlyle fund holding Combined Systems’ stock has been closed, and its assets sold off.

References

Weapons manufacturing companies {{US-manufacturing-company-stub