DOJ sues Honeywell over faulty bulletproof vests

DOJ sues Honeywell over faulty bulletproof vests
By DONNA BORAK, AP Business Writer

Thursday, June 5, 2008


(06-05) 13:38 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --


The government is suing diversified manufacturer Honeywell International Inc. for selling material used in bulletproof vests that it alleges the company knew was defective.

According to the Justice Department lawsuit filed Thursday, Honeywell had scientific data that showed the ballistic material, known as Zylon Shield, "degraded quickly over time, especially in hot and humid conditions," leaving the vests unfit for use by law enforcement agencies and military personnel.

The department also alleges that Honeywell failed to notify the government or the vest manufacturer, Armor Holdings Inc., of the defect.

A Honeywell spokesman said the company did not make the vests sold to the government and denied claims that it was the manufacturer of the Zylon fiber that led to the initial Justice Department probe.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/06/05/financial/f125424D23.DTL&tsp=1

But then the military had problems with vest too,,,,,

January 22, 2006
All's Not Quiet on the Military Supply Front
By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN
A 9-millimeter bullet, erupting from the barrel of a handgun at 1,100 to 1,400 feet per second, can puncture skin, splinter bone and shred internal organs. A 7.62-millimeter rifle slug, flashing along at about 2,750 feet a second, dispatches targets at greater distances and with more accuracy and force than most handgun ammunition. And the human body - essentially a large, mobile sack of water - offers little resistance to bullets of any caliber.
Bulletproof vests, made of Kevlar and other fabrics, are meant to shield vulnerable bodies, giving a veteran cop on the beat or a young soldier on patrol in Baghdad added protection. Most vests, if properly designed, can stop a 9-millimeter handgun bullet. No vest, unless it is supplemented with heavy, brittle ceramic inserts, can stop a high-velocity rifle bullet. Over time, or with repeated exposure to gunfire, all vests degrade and lose their stopping power. Still, well-made vests offer wearers a measure of security in encounters that might otherwise prove fatal.
When the Iraq war began in early 2003, analysts say, the American military hadn't stocked up on body armor because the White House did not intend to send a large occupational force. The White House game plan called for lightning strikes led by lithe, technologically adept forces that would snare a quick victory. A light deployment of troops and a harmonious occupation were to follow, with the Pentagon anticipating relatively little hand-to-hand or house-to-house fighting. But as the breadth and duration of the Iraqi occupation grew, the war became a series of perilous, unpredictable street fights in Baghdad and other cities, leaving soldiers exposed to sniper fire and close-quarters combat - and in urgent need of hundreds of thousands of bulletproof vests.
In the world of military contractors, times like these - when a sudden, pressing need intersects with a limited number of suppliers - have all the makings of full-blown financial windfalls. For small vendors, the effect can be even more seismic than it is for their larger brethren, turning anonymous businesses into beehives of production and causing their sales to skyrocket. DHB Industries, based in Westbury, N.Y., whose Point Blank subsidiary in Pompano Beach, Fla., is a leading manufacturer of bulletproof vests, found itself occupying this lucrative turf when the military awarded it hundreds of millions of dollars in body armor contracts in 2003 and 2004.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/business/22vests.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

There is big money in vest,,,,,,

Point Blank Body Armor Inc., Pompano Beach, Fla., was awarded on August 3, 2006, a delivery order amount of $37,259,686 as part of a $169,433,519 firm-fixed-price contract for outer tactical vest conversion kits in universal camouflage. Work will be performed in Pompano Beach, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Aug. 8, 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were an unknown number of bids solicited via the World Wide Web on March 2, 2006, and six bids were received. The Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity (W91CRB-06-D-0030).

Specialty Defense*, Dunmore, Pa., was awarded on August 3, 2006, a delivery order amount of $35,827,114 as part of a $171,970,292 firm-fixed-price contract for outer tactical vest conversion kits in universal camouflage. Work will be performed in Dunmore, Pa., and is expected to be completed by Aug. 8, 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were an unknown number of bids solicited via the World Wide Web on March 2, 2006, and six bids were received. The Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity (W91CRB-06-D-0031).

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2006/08/dod-contracts_3302.htm