BLGA - SPOTLIGHT REPORT: HOMELAND SECURITY SECTOR RESEARCH COMMISSIONED BY CRONUS CAPITAL MARKETS
January 2, 2006
BlastGard International's Homeland Security Products Overview
In my last report, I touched upon BlastGard's products. In this update, I am expanding my description of the company's main product, the blast-mitigating trashcan, so that investors can better understand the advantages this product brings to the Homeland Security Sector. BlastGard's blast mitigation technology when used in trash receptacles profoundly reduces the shock and thermal blast effects of explosives. It can manage a very large blast and is the only product available that mitigates all blast effects, the fragments, shock wave and fireball.
The Washington, DC Metro Transit system has recognized the value of the company's product. The Metro system has purchased and began installing the $4,000 trashcan in September. As Metro Chairman Dana Kaufmann said, "These trashcans on steroids thwart terrorists while meeting our riders' needs." (Quoted from AP press release, 12/8/2005, blastgardintl.com
The 'Trash Can'
High Tech Trash cans…. Bet you never thought those words would go together in a sentence, but in effect that is what the trashcans lined with BlastWrap® are. The basic description of BlastWrap®, a "bubble-wrap" style material, may leave you wondering what exactly the product looks like. I have placed a picture of it, as shown in Aviation Week and Space Technology, November 7, 2005 (from a press release on the BlastGard International website, blastgardintl.com
Although the pictures are small here, you may notice some familiarity with the substance inside the 'bubbles.' It contains little pebbles of expanded perlite. Perlite is a volcanic mineral (also used in potting soil) with the ability to expand, similar to a piece of popcorn, when entrained water is quickly heated. This expanded perlite absorbs the shock wave from an explosive device.
The second ingredient inside of the bubble is a salt that has very rapid flash-suppressing characteristics. This allows the trashcan to quench most of the heat of the blast very quickly.
The combination of shock and heat mitigation can be seen in a test explosion of a normal trashcan and a BlastWrap®- treated can. The normal trashcan exploded with a large fireball that lasted much longer than the treated trashcan. This should result in fewer injuries to the general public. (Press Release, BlastGard International website, blastgardintl.com
Other Uses
Trashcans are not the only product that can be improved with BlastWrap®. Military vehicles are being tested with the material on the undercarriage. With the bottom covered in the material, the vehicle becomes less vulnerable to land mines and improvised explosive devices, such as those used by the opposition in Iraq.
The military is also utilizing the product to protect munitions during transport. Incorporating the blast mitigating material into the packaging helps minimize the impact of individual munitions detonations, and it prevents sympathetic detonation of nearby weapons that can lead to mass detonation catastrophes.
Of course, the military and public transportation systems are not the only beneficiaries of this product. BlastGard recently announced a new alliance with Nordisk Aviation Products to utilize its materials in Nordisk's cargo loading units used in commercial aircraft.
... For more of the report: blastgardintl.com |
