ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Defense Holdings, Inc.(R) (DHi(R)) announced the appointment of Mr. Hank Richert to the position of Vice President, Sales and Marketing. Mr. Richert joins DHi after serving as the President of Schleifring North America, a major global manufacturer of rotary interface devices, inclusive of slip rings, fiber optic rotary joints and media rotary joints.

Mr. Richert brings with him an industrial sales and marketing management career spanning over 30 years, with senior management responsibilities held within global manufacturers, including the Kaydon Power and Data Technologies Group, SKF - Flexlink Systems Div. and Panasonic Industrial Co. Hank and his wife Angela, and their two sons, reside in Crystal Lake, IL.

Rich Martin, DHi's President and CEO, states, "Mr. Richert's extensive experience in the identification and development of sales within such global industrial organizations will contribute significantly to DHi's future regarding Metal Fiber Bush (MFB), power and data slip ring systems, and photoluminescent safety products growth objectives."

MFBs are constructed of thousands of hair-fine silver alloy fibers running on their tips, offer significant improvement over carbon brushes in both data and current transfer, offering extended brush and slip ring service life, high current capacity, and significant decreases in service acoustic and electrical noise. Silver alloy fibers offer significantly better service life and higher speeds over gold wire technology at a considerable price advantage. MFB technology was originally developed under the Small Business Independent Research (SBIR) program working with HiPerCon, LLC, the U.S. Navy and the University of Virginia.

Following their successful submarine applications, DHi and HiPerCon MFBs were adapted to solve de-icing system problems for Navy E-2C aircraft and Air Force C-130 aircraft. The project was named an Air Force SBIR Success Story. In these and other aircraft de-icing systems, frequent failures of carbon brushes and the presence of carbon dust can pose significant risk of de-icing system failures and fire. MFBs offer significant reductions in scheduled preventative maintenance providing increased operational availability. DHi provides full-spectrum engineering and life-cycle support for MFBs from form-fit-function replacement of existing carbon brushes in legacy slip ring systems to complete slip ring design, manufacturing and customer support. DHi also point designs applications such as grounding brushes. MFB technology is also being applied in a number of other products such as consumer electrical devices, wind turbines, vehicle power generation, and transportation.

DHi has pioneered the PL safety product market and is currently the largest installer of PL safety products in the United States. DHi's AfterGlow(R) Brand PL Safety Products are installed throughout the Pentagon and in many other buildings around the country. Our products are also installed on a number of US Navy and Coast Guard ships and are being used extensively in the Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77). Most recently, use of DHi's AfterGlo(R) Brand Photoluminescent Paint originally developed for to improve personnel safety by enhancing the visibility of propellers on fixed-wing aircraft has been expanded to include helicopter main and tail rotors as well.

Defense Holdings, Inc. (DHi), a service-disabled, veteran-owned, small business, is a technology leader specializing in the defense and homeland security markets with headquarters in Arlington, VA, and production facilities in Trenton, NC. DHi has been ISO 9001 registered since 2003.

DHi works with Government agencies, universities and industry to put timely new technologies into the hands of those defending our country.

Defense Holdings, Inc.

Greg Bender, 703-682-5560 x4201

gbender@dh-inc.com

Source: Defense Holdings, Inc.

<<Business Wire -- 10/14/2009>>