Armor Holdings

Armor Holdings, Inc. was a manufacturer of military, law enforcement and personnel safety equipment. It was acquired by BAE Systems on July 31, 2007 and renamed BAE Systems Mobility & Protection Systems. The divisions have been reorganised within BAE Systems Land and Armaments.

History

Armor Holdings was founded in 1969 as American Body Armor and Equipment, Inc. 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 seating systems, the Cockpit Air Bag 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 UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters.