What Happened to FRACU, page-7

This is out of the shareholder news letter on the 30-10-15!
And your first post was no better!


For several months now, we have commented multiple times, both here in the newsletter and in press releases, on our progress in the military arena. However, we, at Alexium, can sometimes forget how confusing it can be for an outside observer to understand how government programs work, what the process looks like and where Alexium fits in. So, a few words on this very exciting area of opportunities for us, around the subject of a program we have discussed several times, the Army FRACU.

In 2006, there was an expansive effort to create a flame retardant army combat uniform (FRACU), to deal with a marked increase in IDE burn injuries. In that effort, 24 different technologies were screened and fully tested, not just on FR performance and durability, but on the critical, difficult-to-quantify, metric of comfort. What the military had come to realize is that due to the extreme and rigorous environments our soldiers have to operate in, if a garment is not comfortable and breathable, there is a good chance they won’t wear it, regardless of how it protects them. This critical observation necessitates that before a new fabric goes to the broader military, it must undergo a limited user evaluation (LUE) on several hundred soldiers to simply ensure the soldiers find it comfortable and breathable.

That year, the DoD selected a fabric called DefenderTM M for the FRACU, but it has two critical issues – 1) the FR Rayon that gives DefenderTM M its performance contains halogenated compounds, which are under increasing scrutiny for their health and environmental effects, and 2) it can only be sourced from Austria, which is in direct conflict with the Berry Amendment requiring all materials for military uniforms be sourced domestically. DefenderTM M has received a waiver for the Berry amendment every year since, and Senator John Isakson from Georgia, in a 2009 defense of this exemption due to there being no American competitor who can meet the performance requirements of the FRACU, told the U.S. Senate that “if there were, that waiver would go away and [the United States] could compete, but at this time they do not.”

Fast forward to 2015 and to the original point - after a long two years of effort, Alexium is, in the words of Senator Isakson, finally allowing the U.S. to compete. Our selection for a subcontracting position in the effort to produce a non-halogenated FR 50/50 nylon-cotton fabric, and the next steps in the effort, are not to design-in better flammability protection – that is done. It is simply to ensure the breathability and comfort of these fabrics that is critical to our soldiers in extreme combat environments. That means minor modifications to the fabric construction and getting our fabrics on the backs of U.S. soldiers in an LUE to confirm the level of comfort they need.

Because in the end, Senator Isakson and others who share his voice are exactly right. Our men and women in uniform should sacrifice neither FR performance nor their health or comfort as they deserve both. Now, because of Alexium, they are at the cusp of having to sacrifice neither while having the knowledge they are getting both completely within the shores of the U.S.A., a reality and a comfort which is long overdue.

The information is not hard to find unless of course your trying to put doubt in people's mind!
I guess we'll see over your next few posts!