division of general dynamics 2011 founded san diego california 1996 headquarters ladson south carolina key people frank kavanaugh chairman founder products mine and blast protected vehicles number of employees over 1000 1 subsidiaries force protection europe website www.gdls.com force protection inc. was a manufacturer of ballistic and blast protected vehicles from the united states which have been used in iraq afghanistan kosovo and other hot spots around the world . the company was acquired by general dynamics in 2011 . contents 1 company 2 product line 3 see also 4 references 5 external links company edit the company traces its roots to sonic jet performance inc. a california speed boat 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 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 . 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 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 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 . force protection initially struggled with its first small mrap 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 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 . 1 the team overcame these issues developed agreements with other defense industry manufacturers such as armor holdings and bae systems as well as a joint venture company with general dynamics 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 program supplying blast resistant vehicles to american forces in iraq but as 2007 progressed orders were increasingly placed with rivals companies . 2 product line edit cheetah thirteen cheetah prototypes were produced in 2007 and 2008 . intended for urban operations reconnaissance and forward command and control no contracts were signed for the cheetah . cougar the cougar is a medium sized mine protected vehicle for command and control artillery prime mover recovery and ambulance 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 the spectre light vehicle formerly jamma prototype . offered to socom in 2012 no contracts were signed . ocelot the ocelot which is designed and built in the united kingdom by force protection europe is a light protected patrol vehicle lppv in final field tests to start replacing the uk military s snatch land rover in 2016 . 3 see also edit ilav references edit a b eisler peter 2007 10 02 . the truck the pentagon wants and the firm that makes it . usa today . more mraps navistar s maxxpro maintains the pole position defense industry daily force protection europe . force protection . external links edit general dynamics land systems force protection website yahoo force protection inc. company profile extensive article from the usa today about force protection inc. v t e automotive industry in the united states automotive industry economy of the united states transportation in the united states american vehicle manufacturers list agco challenger tractor massey ferguson allied specialty vehicles champion bus collins eldorado national e one fleetwood goshen coach holiday rambler laymor wheeled coach am general american expedition vehicles american growler amp electric vehicles anteros coachworks arcimoto armour group inc. atk motorcycles aurica motors autocar blue bird boulder electric vehicle brammo brunton stalker caterpillar fca us chrysler dodge jeep ram cnh industrial case ce case ih commuter cars cushman cycle scoot delorean chenowth racing products eagle bus environmental performance vehicles equus 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studebaker erskine rockne stutz twentieth century motor car corporation united defense vl white wildfire defunct factories general motors factories closed fiat chrysler factories closed ford factories closed brampton assembly amc packard automotive plant related topics aaa chicago auto show interstate highway system national highway traffic safety administration new york international auto show north american international auto show sae international 1 former meaning the company is no longer in the automotive manufacturing business category portal retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title force protection inc & oldid 732284436 categories military vehicle manufacturerscompanies based in south carolina navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction 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