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Valley Forge Composite Technologies Is Partnering With The US
Department of Energy And Russia’s Top Laboratory To Develop And Commercialize A
Product For Inspecting Cargo Containers And Airline Cargo Faster And More Thoroughly Than
Current Methods
Manufacturer
Screening Technology
(VLYF-OTC: BB)
Valley Forge Composite Technologies, Inc.
50 East River Center Blvd., Suite 820
Covington, KY 41011
Phone: 859-581-5111
Louis J. Brothers
President and CEO
Interview conducted by:
Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor
CEOCFOinterviews.com
Published - August 31, 2007
BIO:
Louis J. Brothers – President and CEO
Mr. Brothers is a Co-Founder of Valley Forge Composite Technologies, Mr. Brothers holds a
Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Cincinnati. He has more than 20 years of
experience in marketing, marketing support, product management and logistics. He has
extensive international business experience having worked in Europe, Russia, and Japan.
Company Profile:
Valley Forge Composite Technologies, Inc. is a
developer, manufacturer and worldwide distributor of next-generation detection and
aerospace systems. The company is planning for rapid growth in response to the worldwide
need for detection technologies. THOR LVX is an Advanced Explosives Detection System
capable of penetrating all shielding to detect and identify explosives, nuclear material,
narcotics and chemical and biological agents using photonuclear and gamma ray technology.
Expected markets include airports, seaports, cargo terminals and border crossings.
Complementing THOR-LVX cargo detection capabilities is Valley Forge's next-generation
personnel screening technology, ODIN-ULDRIS. Ultra Low dose Digital Radiographic Imaging
System (ULDRIS) is designed to detect both metal and non-metal illicit objects hidden on
or inside the human body. ODIN-ULDRIS detects ceramic or composite weapons, packaged
narcotics, bulk or sheet explosives, as well as swallowed items via a near medical quality
image in approximately 2 seconds per person. This equates to a throughput of up to 1000
persons per hour - and the need to remove shoes and jackets is eliminated. Personal
privacy is ensured as images are remotely sent to the operator in a location physically
removed from the screening area. ODIN-ULDRIS is immediately available and suitable for
schools, airports, ferry terminals, sporting arenas, concert halls, museums, and
government buildings.
CEOCFO: Mr. Brothers:, what was vision when you founded
Valley Forge Composite Technologies and where are you today?Mr.
Brothers: “We founded the company based on novel bearing and composite
technology that was applicable to the space industry. It was actually to replace
Beryllium, which was in the momentum wheels in all the satellites. Beryllium was expensive
and is a carcinogen when it is machined. Actually, the composites were the same weight or
lack of weight where you needed the same strength. Our first contract was with NASA, so
that and our high-speed bearing technology got us started. However, after 9/11, some of
the technology that was sitting on the shelf, advanced explosive detection systems and
other counter-terrorism products became so important that they redirected the company
focus.”
CEOCFO: What is happening today?
Mr. Brothers: “We are listed on the OTC: BB and
hopefully within twelve months we will be on Nasdaq and the product propelling that is our
advanced explosive detection system. We are the first non-proliferation company in
Kentucky and what that means is we are hooked up with the initiative for proliferation
prevention. It is a project that brings technology from the former Soviet states; in this
case, Russia’s Lebedev Physical Institute to the United States and partners the US
Department of Energy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, with the top laboratories in
Russia to improve US national security. We are the commercial entity in that program,
which is to be used to look into cargo containers, inspect airline cargo and to do it very
quickly and a whole lot more thoroughly than what is done currently.”
CEOCFO: What is special about this technology?
Mr. Brothers: “What is out there currently is an
x-ray system. They are trying to image it and say this image kind of looks like this and
this image looks like that. That is not real detecting, however, we actually can detect.
We can chemically tell you; just like a mass spec. you get signatures and information
directly from the compound. We can do that with a cargo container; we can tell you what
chemicals are in there and what compounds they make up. We can do it extremely fast and
accurately. Why ours is different is the current cargo inspections run at about point five
million electron volts up to 8 million electron volts. We run at fifty-five million
electron volts. It is enough to generate and start a photo-nuclear reaction, which is
unique. Each isotope of every element is different; we can tell you which isotope, and
which percentage is present. Put it together, we got the compound.”
CEOCFO: How trained does the person operating equipment need
to be, and what would be at the different locations?
Mr. Brothers: “With the current system, there is
an operator that has to interpret an image. The operator could be tired or might not get
an image to interpret. Our machine is digital, it puts out a powerful beam. It is pulsed,
20 milliseconds so there is no long-term exposure, and we are below background radiation
levels quickly. The detector picks up a signal and it could be that after we fire the
beam, at eleven milliseconds, the detector picks up an energy signal of 38 million
electron volts. We can say for sure that it has to be the isotope 7N14
that is present to cause that. We also have the amount, the intensity of it. This goes
directly into a computer that searches our relationship database that tells you exactly
what it is. An operator is really just there to make sure the particle accelerator is
performing properly. That was a big part of the technology, to miniaturize the particle
accelerator. Some of the particle accelerators are the size of buildings. We give one that
is that powerful on a desktop. You can produce them and put them all over the world.”
CEOCFO: What are the barriers to entry?
Mr. Brothers: “This is complicated technology. It
is a different from what people normally have. It is WMD technology. In this case, we have
patents with Russia’s Lebedev Physical Institute, as we are partners with them. We
are also partners with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and with the US Industry
Coalition. In the department of energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration
actually funds our project. How this works is the technology comes from Russia, the
Department of Energy funds it and it has different aspects. One aspect is tying up the WMD
scientists in Russia, so that they do not work for North Korea or Iran, and to provide
them an income and to bring products to the US to help us with our national security.
Valley Forge is the commercial entity in this. It is our responsibility when the product
is developed to market it, install it, to maintain it and make sure that the business
grows. It is created with the Department of Energy, to multi-laterally formalize our
agreements with the Russian Federation and it is backed by the US government. Initiating
projects with foreign WMD scientist should not do alone; Our project is tied up very well
with a CRADA. All the patents and property rights are the property of Valley Forge for
commercial use.”
CEOCFO: You are near commercialization now; what is the
plan?
Mr. Brothers: “We have units under development.
The technology actually started while the Russians had it. Back in the mid-1980’s
when they were fighting the Afghan war, about 50% of their casualties were due to IEDs and
land mines. This was developed in response to that. Russia went to their top physicist to
develop something to solve this problem. They were working on it, had it pretty close and
then the Soviet system collapsed and it sat on the shelf near completion for quite a
while. In the fall of 2001, we were over there, saw it, signed all the rights to it, and
started the project with the Department of Energy to commercialize it. We are finally at
the stage where it has been tested, built, and we are getting ready to fully commercialize
it. We have interest from around the world to supply numerous units. We are doing all the
things you have to do to commercialize, from sourcing materials, suppliers and plants and
every aspect of it.”
CEOCFO: Would this be purchased city by city, state by
state; who is going to buy it?
Mr. Brothers: “Governments are going to buy
these. Not just in the US, but around the world. Because of the uniqueness of the system,
we will probably have some kind of maintenance, or operational contract or supply
agreement where we are going to train and maybe even operate the units in some countries.
We are going to be tied up with our customers and working with them closely throughout the
world. We are looking at regional offices, one in Europe, one in the Far East, and two in
the United States. There will also be one in Russia in the outskirts of
Moscow.”
CEOCFO: How is the company positioned financially?
Mr. Brothers: “We are fine. Say thank you to the
Department of Energy for putting in the first $2 million. That made a big difference and I
think it does for all the non-proliferation companies when you are dealing with these
high-risk projects overseas and WMD science. One of the components of the IPP (Initiatives
for Proliferation Prevention) was to minimize the company’s exposure and to
formalize it. That was very helpful. Other than that, we raised some money. We have some
other product sales. We have the group that took us public and did a very good job making
sure we are funded for what we need. We think in the 3rd Quarter this year we
will probably be profitable, which considering its particle accelerator technology, we
think that is pretty good.”
CEOCFO: Do you need to add to your management team for the
commercialization effort?
Mr. Brothers: “We are pretty lucky that we have
some engineers with a lot of experience in building plants, building parts and machines.
We are going to have to expand that but our top people are very, very good. I put our top
people against anybody. When you see the board, it will be announced in a couple weeks,
and you start to see the people involved, you are going to be impressed. We have the
manpower to get the job done.”
CEOCFO: Is it easy to reach your target customers?
Mr. Brothers: “With this technology it is not a
struggle, they come to us. Some of these programs in some of these countries are near
secret, and you cannot really call them, so it is nice when they call you. We have
projects in almost every country. We are working with the proper people. In some cases the
TSA in the United States want it certified by the Department of Energy and we are working
on the final testing protocol. Around the world, some people are saying hey we got
worrisome neighbors or are on the border with Iran or something and they are nervous.
Sometimes it is not even explosives, maybe people want to stop the smuggling; our product
does all of that. Although we look at explosives, one of the side benefits is we happen to
pick up all the narcotics. We pick up anything with carbon, oxygen, or nitrogen. We can
pick up other things, but those are the primary three elements.”
CEOCFO: Tell us about your airport screener technology.
Mr. Brothers: “It is a screener that does
near-medical imaging. You see the veins in people. If people have something between their
shirt and skin, you see it. If they have swallowed something, you see it. The guy with the
monkey a couple of days ago under his hat; you would see it. This is ready to be deployed
in airports, and actually it is in ten airports in the world.”
CEOCFO: Why should potential investors be interested and why
might they miss that they should take notice of?
Mr. Brothers: “We are a young company that has
been working on development for quite a while and we have almost no debt. In addition, we
are positioned for some good growth and good profitability. The machines have a respectful
but healthy margin in them. As these commercialize, we intend to qualify for Nasdaq.
There is a good chance with our unique technology that we are going to be a very large
company; those are some pretty impressive numbers. It could happen in 2008. We think the
upside for the stock and the company is tremendous. Based on our technology and what we
have, it might be one of the better investments out there.”
CEOCFO: What should people remember about Valley Forge
Composite Technologies?
Mr. Brothers:
“One is that we have a new technology that they probably will be seeing late 2007 and
2008. They will be able to fly with their families on an airplane or on a ship and know
that they are going to be a little bit safer when our technology is installed. We have the
screener for people at airports. Instead of a sniffer, this provides near medical imaging;
it can see anything, you cannot hide any object. When you see the picture, you are not
going to believe it. We do it in two seconds. If somebody has a drug they swallowed or if
they are trying to hide something, forget it. We have quite a few products you are going
to see coming out, not just the accelerator, which is a big product. We are very lucky to
have the products for the company.”
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