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force protection defense department is host Security show luresa crowd to Stafford
Region's economy expected to reap millions from Defense Department event at Stafford Regional Airport
Date published: 8/16/2007
By PAMELA GOULD
The term "airport security" took on new meaning at Stafford Regional Airport this week as companies from throughout the world showed off the latest tools for protecting personnel and property from every kind of threat imaginable.
The three-day Force Protection Equipment Demonstration, hosted by the Defense Department, has been held every two years since 1997. It was initiated in response to the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia.
This year marked the first time the event was held in Stafford County instead of on Quantico Marine Corps Base and local officials were excited about the economic windfall they anticipated.
"Obviously, we couldn't pay for the exposure that this event is bringing to our community," said Tim Baroody, Stafford's economic development director.
Gene Bailey, president of the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance, agreed.
"I certainly intend to network it," he added.
The event officially began Tuesday and ends today, but with set-up and tear-down time, company representatives are eating, sleeping and shopping in the area over 11 days.
Baroody estimated the event could pump $3 million into the local economy and said it exceeded expectations with 11,000 room nights booked at hotels throughout the Fredericksburg area.
The director of sales and marketing for North Carolina-based Blackwater USA attested to the demand. She stayed in Tysons Corner because the bed-and-breakfast she hoped to enjoy in Fredericksburg was booked along with everything else in the region.
FPED, as it's known, brought in roughly 600 vendors from 45 countries with more than 2,500 pieces of protective equipment, according to organizers.
Seeking business
Selling their wares and getting government contracts was the goal of companies at the airport this week and each vendor had his own approach.
Jeff Fromm, president of Pennsylvania-based Fromm Barriers, posted a sign declaring his blast wall could have minimized the impact of June's failed bomb attempt at Glasgow airport in Scotland.
And David Brown, chief executive officer of ArmStar, was wearing the device he created, demonstrating it as people visited his booth.
The stuntman and filmmaker designed Body Guard, an apparatus that looks like a robotic arm but instead is a black sleeve that begins as a glove and runs just above the elbow.
It can be fitted with a Taser, camera, global positioning system, sensors for chemical weapons and any other device that law enforcement or the military might need.
Date published: 8/16/2007
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