FAQs

The Expeditionary Shelter Protection System (ESPS) is a modular armor protection system developed to protect vulnerable warfighters and critical assets from blast and ballistic threats during initial deployment of military bases. ESPS was designed and built to conform with the US military performance specification standard number MIL-PRF-32521C.

ESPS is used by the US Army to protect warfighters and critical assets (facilities, supplies, and equipment), by providing a rapidly deployable, immediate, mobile ballistic protection system against small arms and fragmentation threats. ESPS is used in forward operating military bases, tactical operations centers, combat outposts (COPs), command posts and checkpoints..

Because sandbags and concrete walls are heavy and time-consuming to deploy during initial deployment. There is a need for immediate protection that is lightweight and rapidly deployable. ESPS is always mission ready.

The speed of deployment and re-deployment is the number one advantage of such system when compared to other conventional solutions like sandbags, HESCO, or concrete walls. Other systems are slow and time-consuming, costly to deploy, and require a lot of manpower or heavy equipment. Often, troops can be left unprotected during the initial phases of a deployment mainly due to the time and logistics required to set up such systems. On the other side, ESPS provides immediate protection

Each ESPS module is a two-panel protection system consisting of a face plate and back panel. The face plate is comprised of a hard dense material that blunts and fractures projectiles allowing the back panel, which is comprised of fibrous material, to catch the blunted and broken threat. The advantage of this system over other armor solutions is that it provides a protection system that defeats ballistic threats while remaining lightweight, squad portable, and rapidly deployable. These panels are equally effective against direct fire projectiles as they are against fragments from indirect fire.

The panels are made from ceramic composites and high-performance fiber-reinforced composite materials using Compotech’s proprietary manufacturing process.

Steel Armors are heavy compared to ESPS panels.

The panels come in one standard size: 1.22 m x 2.13 m

G2 panels are 64Kg and 11mm thick. The G3 panels are 67kg and 8mm thick. The panels are designed to be carried by two people.

ESPS is both lightweight and easy to install. ESPS panels are 20 times lighter than an equivalent barrier constructed of sandbags and over 100 times faster to deploy. Four people can install 115 feet (35m) of ESPS per hour.

ESPS panels protect against direct fire rounds, including 7.62 x 51 M80 NATO, 7.62 x 39 API BZ, and 7.62 × 54 LPS. Also, ESPS protects against Mortar, Rocket, and Hand grenade attacks with a protection level equivalent to a 44-grain FSP.

Yes, ESPS panels are fire resistant.

Yes, the ESPS solution will require an export license from the department of commerce. Compotech has extensive experience in this matter and has exported these products successfully in the past. 

A 20-foot shipping container can be packed with 10 crates for a total of 120 modules per container. Each crate contains 12 modules. Each module consists of a face panel, a back panel and supporting hardware.

The minimum order quantity is 120 modules equivalent to 10 crates shipped in a 20-foot shipping container.

ESPS is manufactured at Compotech’s facility in the state of Maine, USA.

Yes. The United States Army is currently buying this product in large quantities.

MINATORS are versatile and enduring hard shelters that provide the comfort and amenities of a permanent structure while being capable of rapid deployment in the world’s most challenging environments.

MINATORS can fill a variety of roles in an austere or expeditionary environment to include billeting, administrative, industrial, or temporary sensitive compartmented information facility (TSCIF) functions. MINATORS also thrive in humanitarian aid applications due to the shelter’s expeditionary nature.

MINATORS can be easily set up in under 30 minutes with 4-6 people. Recent testing with an untrained group of Army contractors found that the system can be set up in as little as 15 minutes and 28 seconds. The same group found that the system can be taken down in as little as 17 minutes and 30 seconds.

Compotech does not include HVAC systems with MINATORS. Compotech leaves it open to the end user so they can use a system that fits their needs. HVAC systems will need to be shipped and installed separately.

Yes, commercial solutions can be integrated seamlessly with MINATORS.

MINATORS need very little prep work due to their adjustable jacks which can accommodate up to 18 inches of variability. MINATORS are more flexible than tents and can be set up on unimproved ground.

Yes, Compotech uses a fire-retardant resin during MINATORS production.

No, but Compotech’s ESPS can provide robust blast/ballistics capabilities to MINATORS.

MINATORS connect to the ground with guy lines. Guy lines are unnecessary in normal operating conditions but are recommended in high-wind environments due to the lightweight nature of the structure.

The longest MINATORS deployment began in January of 2020 and is still active.

While Compotech doesn’t have data on MINATORS sound deadening capabilities, Army evaluations noted that speech inside MINATORS is unintelligible from the outside.