| International Titanium Powder, L.L.C. (ITP) of Lockport, Illinois has received $1.2 million from The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to modify ITP's "Armstrong" process to produce low oxygen content alloy suitable for high-performance, blast-resistant Navy applications. The Armstrong process, developed by ITP, reduces titanium to a powder metal form. DARPA wishes to rapidly advance the process to directly produce complex titanium alloys and grades with low levels of oxygen content. Because of the importance of titanium in defense applications, DARPA has broadened its titanium initiative to involve additional participants such as ITP. Richard Anderson, ITP's director of research and development, will act as the project's principal investigator. Work will begin immediately. "DARPA's funding will provide us with a fast track vehicle to produce much needed high performance alloys. We are looking forward to substantial progress over the next year," said Anderson. Chairman of the Projection Forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (Md-6), said, "As a scientist and engineer who worked on NASA's Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs and with 11 years of experience on the House Armed Services, Science, and Small Business Committees, I recognized the significance of a domestic source of low cost, high quality titanium and understood the science underlying the breakthrough represented by ITP's innovative Armstrong process. ITP is a small business that could make important contributions to enhancing America's future national security and economic prosperity." With a stable, low-cost, domestic source of titanium powder produced through ITP's Armstrong Process, engineers will be able to expand applications into a wide array of new areas in the use of titanium. The Armstrong Process provides the potential to revolutionize the industry. International Titanium Powder, L.L.C. is a research and development firm specializing in the reduction of metals using the novel Armstrong process. ITP's Armstrong Titanium Reduction Process is nearing commercialization, with a commercial production facility scheduled to begin operation in 2006. |