Greenhill AntiBallistics Corporation, a nanotechnology materials company, is in the early phases of choosing Fort Liberty as a potential home in the future.

Greenhill AntiBallistics’ mission is to protect troops, children and athletes against brain damage and blunt trauma in the military and sports industries using their invention, a specially manufactured patented Force Disruption Platform™. 

FDP is an advanced material that uses nanotechnology to reduce force of impact 50 percent in the thickness of a dime (1 mm) which allows for a lightweight method of protection. FDP is nanoscale, reinforces existing protection and uses force against itself which makes it ideal for protective equipment such as body armor, sports helmets, padding and other protection.

Current top tier materials are macroscale, inert and cannot match FDP at the same size, thickness and weight. 

According to the creators, CEO and COO Judy Lee Greenhill and Zach Greenhill, chief technology strategist, this technology has been in the works for many years and now can be custom ordered to help meet the needs of the buyer.

“The material is, for lack of a better word, a designer material. If you show us the use case, and you show us the device on which it is to be placed. We will design our material through modeling and configuration to optimize the reduction in that device,” shared Zach. “So for example, if you're talking about a military helmet, you can actually take FDP by simple insertion retrofitted into your helmet, and that can happen. No redesigns to the helmet, no retooling needed whatsoever. You can pop it in or take it out and that includes in the field.”

Conceptualization began in the early 2000s and the two officially patented the technology back in 2008-2009. 

“At that time, nanotechnology was not new, but people were wary about it as it’s been misused for many things. But we were very cautious in terms of what people's perceptions were in the market, both positive and negative,” shared Judy. “Once we had the idea we started to see customers and talk to prospective customers, both in the military space and in sports and anyone who were open to a new, mature advanced material. And so we gathered additional intelligence and data and a kind of understanding on what is the best approach into the marketplace.” 

Judy said that after years in the works the company has the team, the secure supply chain within the U.S. and North America and most importantly, a large scale production method to bring the product securely into the marketplace for large scale buyers. Currently located in Davidson N.C., the company is in the early stages of potentially relocating to Fayetteville.

“Fayetteville is an area we really want to be in. We’re now co-working in Davidson but we can relocate to Fayetteville to be closer to the end user and where really, our mission out of the box and into the market will start,” shared Judy. 

Greenhill AntiBallistics is proud to be an active member of the North Carolina Defense Technology Transition Office (NC DEFTECH) which is where the two first connected with Rob Patton, executive vice president of the Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Development Corporation, after a brief presentation on their product. 

“I was impressed with what they had to say and wanted to learn more so I linked up with them and we started talking,” said Patton. “I really liked what they were doing and saw some potentially very positive impacts for the military at large, as well as the opportunity they mentioned wanting to open up a production facility potentially here in the Cumberland County area. I’ve been working with them for about a year and seeing if we can potentially get them to open up a facility here.” 

Patton said that adding the Greenhill AntiBallistics Corporation manufacturing plant to the area would increase the profile of the area and possibly attract more businesses of the same caliber. 

“We do have a good manufacturing base. Obviously, we want to inject further manufacturing companies into our ecosystem here, especially when it comes to what they’re doing. That’s where it’s cutting edge technology, it’s high tech,” said Patton.

In the past year, Greenhill AntiBallistics Corporation has come a step closer to meeting their goal to integrate FDP into military helmets and body armor, sports helmets and padding as well as other protection, when the team announced its 5-year Cooperation Research and Development Agreement (CRADA)3 with the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM2) for its Force Disruption Platform™. 

As of now Greenhill AntiBallistics Corporation is aggressively seeking consumer-facing partners. As they continue to build revenue to make their move, they will be making an appearance at the Defense Manufacturing Summit & Exhibition taking place on Sept. 7 at the Emerging Technology Institute campus.