Combined Systems Inc

Combined Systems Inc. (CSI) is an American company based in Jamestown, Pennsylvania, producing "tactical munitions and crowd control devices" to be used by police and military forces. CSI is a privately held company controlled by Point Lookout Capital Partners. Point Lookout’s 2005 purchase of CSI was backed by the politically connected private equity giant The Carlyle Group, which took a minority stake in the munitions company. The company sells some of its products under the "Combined Tactical Systems" label.

Repressing Tahrir
During the November 2011 protests in Tahrir square, Egypt, extensive use of CS gas granades were used. The common comment by veteran protestors is that the new CS gas deployed against them is far more noxious than those used in March. Most of the CS gas granades are produced by CSI. Mike Hanna, of Al Jazeera, reports on "US-made tear gas" which has caused several fatalities. Ahmed Fayez, an Egyptian doctor in Tahrir square, confirmed that there were three deaths by tear gas suffocation on 24 November 2011. A 27 November 2011 Al Jazeera reports seven suffocation deaths due to tear gas produced by several manufacturers.

There are three American companies supplying CS gas munitions/grenades: CSI, Federal Laboratories (owned by BAE) and NonLethal Technologies. CSI is the principal one, especially for the canisters which are shot over large distances. Chemring Defence is a British company also supplying riot control CS gas.

Large shipment to Egypt
On 29 November 2011, shipping authorities in Egypt revealed the arrival of a 7.5 ton consignment of tear gas destined to the Egyptian police. This shipment is part of an overall 21 ton/479 barrel shipment loaded in Wilmington, US.

Producing not-so-non-lethal crowd control devices
Although the gun-fired CS munitions are non-lethal when shot onto an open area, they are lethal or highly damaging when shot at short range into a crowd. The Israeli armed forces have killed at least a dozen Palestinian demonstrators using such weapons.

Joseph Dana reports:
 * Haaretz is reporting today something which has been known for weeks, the IDF has illegally reintroduced high-velocity tear gas canisters to their arsenal of weapons used to crush weekly Palestinian non-violent demonstrations in the West Bank. This is in violation of the IDF’s own directives that such tear gas canisters should not be used in West Bank demonstrations. Manufactured and sold to the Israeli military by Combined Systems Inc., a United States company based in Jamestown, Pennsylvania, the tear gas projectiles have been responsible for countless injuries, destruction of property and one death. According to the company’s subsidiary website, the projectiles are not meant for use in open-air crowd control situations, but rather as indoor barricade penetrators. On April 17th, 2009, Bil’in resident Bassem Abu Rahmah was killed as a result of being hit in the chest with a high velocity tear-gas projectile. On March 13th, 2009, American citizen Tristan Anderson suffered numerous condensed fractures to the skull above the right eye socket after being struck with a high velocity tear-gas projectile during a demonstration in Ni’ilin. He suffered extensive brain tissue damage and is now paralyzed for life.

http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/authors/rizka.jpg Imad Rizka, a victim of CSI tear gas canister in Bil'in (23 April 2010)

Principal Customers

 * United States
 * Israel
 * Egypt
 * Colombia
 * Yemen

Principals

 * Don Smith – CEO
 * Richard Edge – COO
 * Michael Brunn – co-founder
 * Jacob Kravel – co-founder
 * Paul Ford – VP of Sales and Marketing
 * Dennis Palmer – Director of Law Enforcement Training
 * Jim Marth – Director of International Sales

Board of Directors / Advisory Board

 * Michael A. Monteleone
 * James J. Cesare
 * Francis A. Finelli
 * August Cianciolo
 * Carroll Gagnon
 * Frank Libutti
 * Bobbiejo Buchholz

Contact

 * Website: www.less-lethal.com