Secret Protects Our Embassy

Sun Herald

Sunday August 24, 2008

By EAMONN DUFF

AUSTRALIA'S embassy in Jakarta is the world's first bomb-proof diplomatic mission, thanks to revolutionary technology about to take the international defence and aeronautical industries by storm.

Australian inventor Les Avory, 60, who developed the plastic composite named MG-100, is already having top-level talks with an aircraft manufacturer as well as the Ministry of Defence in Britain and the Israeli Home Command.

Overseas interest comes after a secret deal with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to blast-proof its embassy in Jakarta where, in 2004, 11 people were killed and 160 were wounded after a powerful car bomb exploded outside the building.

A government spokesman said: "The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has entered into a contract with Defence Safety Systems for an application of the company's Polyurea coating MG-100. For security reasons, I cannot give specific details."

Mr Avory, managing director of Adelaide-based DSS, completed the $1.2million contract in Jakarta several weeks ago. He said he was honoured to be involved in a project that ensured "Australia's No.1 overseas terrorist target" could not be targeted in the same way again.

Mr Avory refers to MG-100 as his "magic goo", while Australian government officials involved in the Indonesian project apparently dubbed it "supersnot".

Applied by spray gun, MG-100 is proven to hold buildings together under the most powerful of blasts. Like a giant rubber band, the flameproof coating absorbs any shock before returning to its original state. It can be used for arsenal protection and to safeguard dangerous cargos.

Mr Avory said: "Crucially, it prevents any fragmentation which, in the event of a bomb blast, is the real killer."

A standard, less complex version of the product is also being used to coat and seal "quite literally anything exposed to harsh conditions", including refineries, bridges and mining equipment.

Explaining how the remarkable invention came to fruition, he said: "I hail from an architecture and building background. I'd been involved in protective coatings since the '80s and had a mate who was involved on the industrial side of things, which itself is a huge industry.

"Because some of those paints are so complex in both make-up and application, composites, which are literally plastics, were increasingly being developed as an alternative ... because they're more durable and easy to apply."

About three years ago, Mr Avory said, he and his friend realised that with the right product there was a gaping market in defence for blast protection use. "Today, following more than $2million of research and development, we've developed and cracked that product," he said.

Mr Avory met a senior Australian Army official at a conference two years ago. The official agreed to look at MG-100. The Department of Defence then agreed to test it.

But the product's development was held back for more than a year after a five-tonne bomb, being built by the Government to test the MG-100, accidentally exploded at a South Australian munitions factory in May 2006, killing three men.

The explosion was heard 45kilometres away and is still the subject of an official SafeWork SA inquiry. Mr Avory described the incident as "a terrible tragedy". He hopes that his product will go on to save thousands of lives, whether it be at international embassies or on aircraft.

eduff@fairfax.com.au

© 2008 Sun Herald

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