Defense

When failure isn’t an option

Defense work is mostly ordinary fabrication with one difference: the consequence of getting it wrong is not a rework order.

The Navy submarine ventilation hatch houses are the clearest thing we can point at. They arrived as a stopgap product that had never been designed for the job it ended up doing, and were re-engineered through successive changes into something purpose-fit. That is a design problem before it is a welding problem, which is why the engineers and the fabricators being in the same building matters on this kind of work.

Alongside them: brows and gangways including Ohio class work, escape trunk cofferdams, a cradle system for the T-38 Talon, and maintenance stands and elevated platforms for the Air Force.

Veteran-owned, and it is not a marketing line

Tom D’Angelo served in the US Army: armored cavalry, on an M1A1 tank, driver to gunner to tank commander. He is direct about what that taught him:

“What I learned most in supporting the DoD is that anything you supply has to support the troop without failure. Miles from any base, you have to be able to rely on your equipment. Poor quality is not going to do that.”

CAGE 52YE1. DUNS 879203024.

Sole source, and direct from the base

Anyone with a CAGE code can bid the same solicitations. Getting past that is about track record. Anyone with a CAGE code can bid on what we bid on. Over the last six years HPS has become known for certain products, and there are avenues within DoD where a supplier can be sole-sourced. On some products we face no competition. Bases that have been served before purchase directly and call us for quotes that never reach public bid.

That is what repeat defense business actually rests on: things arriving when promised, built the way the drawing said.

Designs that have to change

Defense hardware iterates, often after it is fielded.

The Navy submarine ventilation hatch houses started as a stopgap product and were redesigned by HPS through successive engineering changes into something purpose-fit. Having licensed PEs in house is what makes an engineering change a conversation rather than a re-procurement.

We also build the escape trunk cofferdam, a cradle system for the T-38 Talon, and HH-60 aircraft maintenance stands, and have delivered maintenance stands for the Army’s helicopter fleet.

How we build it

Design-build engineering where a requirement exists without a drawing. Structural steel fabrication and custom weldments for the assemblies themselves. Prototyping and first articles where qualification comes before production.

Certified welders and fabricators, retested regularly. Incoming material inspected. Welds inspected in process. Quality and compliance has the detail.