It will be interesting to see what comes of this.



Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation Forms Military Advisory Council

Tue Jan 8, 2008 8:02am EST



SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (Nasdaq: SWHC), parent company of Smith & Wesson Corp., the legendary 155-year old company in the global business of safety, security, protection and sport, announced today that it has formed a Military Advisory Council, comprised of distinguished military leaders including Four Star GeneralBryan Brown U.S. Army Retired; Four Star General James T. Hill U.S. Army Retired; and Rear Admiral David M. Stone U.S. Navy Retired.

Michael F. Golden, Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation President and CEO, said, "This is an impressive group of highly accomplished, senior level, recently retired military officers. As a council, their mission will be to share their knowledge and experience by helping Smith & Wesson's senior management team to understand the needs of the military market and to deliver products that meet those needs."

General Bryan "Doug" Brown has amassed 40 years of military service prior to his recent retirement, and served most recently as the Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. USSOCOM is responsible for all Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps Special Operations Forces and is the Department of Defense's lead command for planning and synchronizing the Global War on Terrorism. General Brown is the first member of the Army's Aviation Branch to be promoted to the rank of Four Star General and is the senior aviator in the U.S. Army, with more than 4400 hours of flight time in both fixed and rotary winged aircraft. His awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal with "V" Device, Joint Service Commendation Medal, and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal. He also wears the Special Forces Tab, Master Army Aviator Badge, Military Free Fall Parachutist Badge, and the Air Assault Badge. General Brown is also a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

General James T. Hill is a former soldier-diplomat whose expertise at the highest levels of government is operational, strategic and political. Prior to retiring from his 37-year military career, his most recent military post was as Combatant Commander of U.S. Southern Command, commanding all U.S. military operations and relationships in the Caribbean, Central and South America. Upon retirement, General Hill was one of nine Presidential appointees to The 2005 Base Realignment and Base Closure Commission. General Hill is the President/Principal of The JT Hill Group, Inc. based in Coral Gables, Florida.

He currently sits on the boards of directors of Fraunhofer USA, InB: BioTechnologies, Inc. and The Protective Group. He is a retained consultant to Northrop Grumman, The Protective Group, and the Center for Molecular Biology.

Admiral David M. Stone has amassed over 30 years of experience in national and homeland security, most recently as head of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), where he managed a budget of $5.6 billion and 54,000 employees, and was responsible for the security of the entire U.S. transportation system, including mass transit, rail, highway, pipeline, maritime and aviation systems. Prior to his post at TSA, Admiral Stone was the first Department of Homeland Security, Federal Security Director at Los Angeles International Airport, the largest origin and destination airport in the world. As a 28-year career naval officer, Admiral Stone achieved the rank of Rear Admiral before he retired from active duty in April 2002. He is currently President and CEO of the Alacrity Homeland Group, a company that provides strategic consulting, government affairs and corporate development services in the homeland security and critical infrastructure sector. He serves on the boards of directors of the Ocean Security Initiative; Skyport Global Communications; BEI Precision Systems and Space Company; S2 Global Corporation; and Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation.

Golden concluded, "As we continue to diversify our company, the U.S. government, and specifically the military and federal government channels, will continue to present us with opportunities for growth. We are excited about this very decorated and experienced council, and we look forward to their contributions in helping us take full advantage of those opportunities."

2 Words: Market Share

Typical, they never ask the people that actually have to use the weapons for their input. Might actually embarrass an Admiral!

I don't think it's about testing weapons by those who are going to use them, that can be easily arranged.

It's more about if any company wants to compete in the military market, you have to have some "brass" behind you to get in the door.

Look at FN USA. FN products have a niche-like market share on the civilian side, but FN just about has the military market locked up. Besides the M9 pistol (Beretta) and the M4 carbine (Colt) FN produces probably every other small arm that the military uses (M16, M249 SAW, M240 MG, the new SCAR, etc..)

A large reason for that can be summed up in 2 words, Paul Evancoe- who is FN's coordinator for military operations.

What will be interesting to see is what products S&W is interested in competing for. We already know about the military contract based M&P .45, I wonder what is next?