Packaging and Crating Technologies, LLC (PACT)
Mission Impossible, Captain America and Superman are some of this summer’s biggest blockbuster films due to their explosive action. Two manufacturing companies, however, will also be on stage this season, not at a movie theater, but rather, at the 2025 Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD), Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) And Countermine Symposium in National Harbor, MD on July 16-17, 2025. Specifically, Connecticut-based Packaging and Crating Technologies, LLC (PACT) and Fireproof Solutions, Inc. (FPS) of Nevada will be showcasing their proprietary products designed to neutralize and dispose explosive threats plaguing the world. The annual event brings together top officials from the Pentagon, Department of Defense, the U.S. Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), anti-terrorist agencies and all branches of the military.
“As a primary manufacturer of specialized coatings for wildfire defense, structural fireproofing and lithium-ion battery safety, we are eager to demonstrate how our advanced line can be applied to mitigate some of the world’s most dangerous explosion hazards,” says Dennis Rediker, chief executive officer at Fireproof Solutions, Inc. “With a focus on cutting edge materials and rigorous industry testing, we know that our fire protection and blast mitigation solutions will be a game-changer to the hundreds of top government and military leaders in attendance.”
Rediker explains that the key objective of the convention is to discuss ways to reduce explosive hazards during EOD operations, which involve getting rid of stockpiles of old munitions, land mines and captured materials, and the safe handling of IED, such as booby traps materials to build bombs and other improvised explosive devices.
In fact, Europe is in an emergency rush to ramp up munitions production, which they then need to move and store. Russia has already attacked some munitions plants and logistics operators over the last eighteen months.
Specifically, Rediker discusses several ways that Fireproof Solutions’ and PACT’s unique product lines can assist the bomb industry with munitions logistics, blast mitigation and Q/D reduction.
- Munitions logistics: When people or groups make munitions, they must store the volatile components, and then ship and stockpile the munitions, often in dangerous locations. These munitions are transported by trucks, trains, ships and cargo airplanes. Small blasts can often propagate from the exploding device to its surrounding munition, a phenomenon called “sympathetic detonation". Explosions aboard ships and airplanes can be disastrous, as are blasts on trains and in tunnels. PACT manufactures specially designed, durable corrugated cardboard containers and crates that are approved by the U.S. Department of Defense. When these containers include FPS blast-mitigating components and are coated with the company’s fire-resistant coatings, it makes handling and transporting explosive materials and devices safer by lowering the risk of such incidents.
- Blast mitigation: The US Navy doesn’t like to ship Army and Air Force munitions, while the Air Force doesn't want its cargo aircraft to carry munitions, either. When thin panel structures are filled with Fireproof Solutions’ blast mitigation material, any explosions that do occur are immediately dissipated as the material produces a venting effect to reduce the blast energy and pressure so that fireballs are suppressed. Similarly, this blast mitigation technology works inside containers, rooms, ship compartments, tunnels, and buildings. Combined with PACT’s cardboard containers, this would mitigate packaging and crating hazards, thus causing a huge improvement in safe logistics.
- Q/D reduction: Department of Defense regulations require a "safe separation distance" between explosives or munitions and public roads and occupied buildings. "Q" is the quantity (charge weight) and "D" refers to the distance to the roads and buildings. Distances can range from a few feet to thousands of feet, depending upon the charge weight. By dramatically reducing pressure through PACT and FPS’ fire-resistant packaging and crates, distances can be reduced and, in many cases, eliminated, thereby saving the Air Force, Army and Navy hundreds of millions of dollars in operations and transportation costs.
“When we launched our corrugated cardboard container company in 2000, we were on a mission to help military service personnel move from post to post with flexibility and ease,” says Rodger Mort, chief operating officer at PACT, LLC. “By adding Fireproof Solutions’ unique flame-retardant coating and blast-mitigating components to our line of shipping crates, we can now provide a new, powerful and life-saving solution to all individuals and agencies involved in combatting explosives.”
Mort adds that besides producing industrial-grade storage containers, PACT also recently invented a lightweight, fire-suppressant paper wrap that controls lithium battery thermal runaway when travelling, shipping, storing or disposing of products containing lithium-ion batteries, called PACT Thermo Shield. To date, it is the only material that has passed the proposed testing standards of the SAE International for safety in shipping lithium batteries via land, sea, and air.
“Lithium-ion battery fires are another major threat to logistics companies as they are nearly impossible to extinguish and usually have to smolder out on their own after burning for many hours, even days, all while emitting lethal fumes and gases,” says Mort. “Safety for first responders, transportation and cargo companies, and the general public has always been the driving force of our company.”
From the same technology, PACT developed TR Sleeve that stops thermal runaway on the cellular level in lithium battery packs. Here, a layer of PACT Thermo Shield is wrapped around each battery cell to mitigate thermal runaway between them, thus serving as a heat and flame barrier. TR Sleeve has become a critical safety solution for E-mobility equipment, like EVs, E-buses, E-bikes, E-scooters, and other modern devices, which have combusted regularly around the world. Lastly, TR Envelope is the newest, customizable format of PACT Thermo Shield, which safely transports and stores smaller devices such as cell phones, pagers, smartwatches and rechargeable A-D batteries, items becoming a growing hazard for commercial airlines during flight.
“We look forward to engaging in detailed conversations with all of the Department of Defense leaders, special military operatives, hostage rescue agents, mobility commanders and groups that must cross and clean up minefields about how our unique products can make their jobs easier and safer,” concludes Rediker. “Beyond this key audience of explosive experts, our line can also be used to protecting installations worldwide against various kinds of attacks, checkpoints, structures, VIPs, vehicles and forward bases.”