Armor Holdings, Inc. was an American manufacturer of military, law enforcement, and personnel safety equipment. It was acquired by

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

on July 31, 2007 and renamed BAE Systems Mobility & Protection Systems. The divisions have been reorganised within

BAE Systems Land and Armaments BAE Systems Platforms & Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems Inc. and is a large provider of tracked and wheeled armored combat vehicles, naval guns, naval ship repair and modernization, artillery and missile launching systems, ad ...

History

Armor Holdings was founded in 1969 as American Body Armor and Equipment, Inc.Armor Holdings, Inc. -- Company Profile
/ref> at Jacksonville, Florida. In January 1996 the company underwent a change in control; Kanders Florida Holdings, Inc. and others purchased the stock held by the company's two largest shareholders. The Armor Holdings, Inc. name was adopted on August 21, 1996. It acquired Fairfield, Ohio-based O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt in 2001 and renamed it Centigon. In 2003, it acquired Simula, Inc. a developer and producer of

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

seating systems, the Cockpit

Air Bag An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system using a bag designed to inflate in milliseconds during a collision and then deflate afterwards. It consists of an airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, an inflation module, and an impact sensor. ...

System (CABS) for US Army helicopters, the Small Arms Protective Insert (SAPI) armor system, and parachutes. Simula developed and produced the first crashworthy armored crew seats for the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

UH-60 Black Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift military utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted a design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS) ...

and

AH-64 Apache The Hughes/McDonnell Douglas/Boeing AH-64 Apache ( ) is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. Nose-mounted sensors help acquire targets and provide night vis ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s. On August 2, 2005, Armor Holdings acquired Second Chance, a

body armor Body armour, personal armour (also spelled ''armor''), armoured suit (''armored'') or coat of armour, among others, is armour for human body, a person's body: protective clothing or close-fitting hands-free shields designed to absorb or deflect ...

manufacturing company, for $45 million. In 2006, Armor Holdings obtained a $649 million order for the U.S. Army to manufacture tactical vehicle trucks. In this same year it acquired the vehicle division of

Stewart & Stevenson Stewart & Stevenson is a manufacturer and distributor of products and services for the oil and gas, marine, construction, power generation, transportation, mining and agricultural industries. History In 1902, Stewart & Stevenson originated in H ...

, which originally built the tactical vehicle truck for the Army.

BAE acquisition

On May 7, 2007

announced its subsidiary

BAE Systems Inc. BAE Systems Inc. (formerly BAE Systems North America) is an American company operating as an independent subsidiary of multinational defense, security, and aerospace company BAE Systems plc. The American subsidiary operates under a Special S ...

was to purchase Armor Holdings for

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

4.1 billion (US$4.5 billion including net debt). The acquisition was completed on July 31, 2007. Armor Holdings' three business units; Aerospace & Defense Group, the Products Group and the Mobile Security Division were merged into BAE Systems as Mobility & Protection Systems, BAE Systems Products Group, and BAE Systems Mobile Security respectively.

Products

Its products include the Caiman MRAP vehicle, Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV), the

Pinzgauer High Mobility All-Terrain Vehicle The Pinzgauer is a family of high-mobility all-terrain 4WD (4×4) and 6WD (6×6) military utility vehicles. The vehicle was originally developed in the late 1960s and manufactured by Steyr-Daimler-Puch of Graz, Austria, and was named after ...

, as well as armor kits and components for the

HMMWV The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of Military light utility vehicle, light, four-wheel drive Military vehicle#Military trucks, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It ...

and

Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement The Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) is a family of medium to heavy six-wheel drive cargo and tactical trucks, used by the United States Marine Corps. The first MTVRs were delivered in late 1999. The MTVR is the equivalent of the ...

(MTVR) (through subcontractor, Plasan Sasa). It also produces the majority of the

MOLLE Modular lightweight load-carrying equipment, or MOLLE (pronounced ), is the current generation of load-bearing equipment used by the United States Army. MOLLE equipment uses Pouch Attachment Ladder System (PALS)-type webbing – rows of hea ...

equipment. It delivered its Maneuver Sustainment Vehicle (MSV) to US Army for evaluation in

Future Tactical Truck System The Future Tactical Truck System (FTTS) was a United States Armed Forces program for which the Operational Requirements Document was drawn up during 2003. FTTS was a proposed two vehicle modular family that was to replace the AM General High Mobi ...

competition, along with

Navistar International International Motors, LLC (formerly Navistar International Corporation) is an American manufacturer of commercial vehicles and engines, established in 1986 as a successor to the International Harvester company. International Motors produces ...

and

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

Zylon body armor settlement

On October 7, 2008, the US Department of Justice announced a $30 million settlement with Armor Holdings Products LLC over claims that Armor Holdings knowingly violated the Federal False Claims Act by selling defective

Zylon Zylon (IUPAC nomenclature, IUPAC name: poly(''p''-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole)) is a trademarked name for a range of thermoset liquid-crystalline polyoxazole. This synthetic polymer material was invented and developed by SRI International in the ...

body armor to the government. This is part of a larger investigation of Zylon armor by the DOJ and the military.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Official Website
Former defense companies of the United States BAE Systems subsidiaries and divisions Manufacturing companies based in Jacksonville, Florida American companies established in 1969 Manufacturing companies established in 1969 1969 establishments in Florida 2007 mergers and acquisitions American subsidiaries of foreign companies Defunct manufacturing companies based in Florida Military vehicle manufacturers