South Carolina 50 Fastest Growing Companies: No. 1, R2P Innovations

(Photo by Greenville Headshots)

R2P Innovations was ranked No. 1 on this year’s 50 Fastest-Growing Companies in South Carolina and also the No. 1 Fastest-Growing Manufacturer in the United States by Inc. 5000 on its list of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies for 2025.

Tony Deering came to America in August 2006 when 70 percent of all U.S. fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan were coming from roadside bombs/IEDs.

The pioneering company, Force Protection, that built life-saving MRAP vehicles was located just outside of Charleston, and Deering saw an opportunity to establish a specialized steel fabrication business that would support these efforts.

Pegasus Steel, LLC began operations that following year and over a short period of time built a reputation as a one-stop shop for highly complex steel structures.

From 2007, up until the sale of Pegasus Steel in June 2023, the company was involved in the supply of complex structures in support of critical Department of Defense programs that included armored vehicles, special operations, nuclear submarines, and aircraft carriers, as well as, supplying the containment walls for two nuclear reactors, fracture-critical components that went into the foundation of the Freedom Tower in New York City, and provided materials for the refurbishment of the Statue of Liberty.

Over the last 30 years, Deering has worked with some of the world’s pre-eminent scientists and engineers in the field of blast and ballistics; and as a direct result of the Sandy Hook School shooting in 2012, he set about developing an ultra-lightweight yet highly protective door that would empower students and teachers to create an immediate safe haven in the case of an armed assault at a school campus.

“I remember watching a CBS News interview the year after Sandy Hook and three groups of parents who had all lost children during that tragic event all commented that if only there was a barrier or some kind of door that would have stopped Adam Lanza from gaining access to the classroom, then their young daughter or son would still be here now today.”

The reality at the time was that traditional bulletproof doors that were rated to stop high velocity assault-rifle fire were extremely heavy at 500 pounds or more and these doors were completely impractical for a classroom setting because it would be impossible for young children to open and close them and they could not be retrofit into existing classroom door openings.

It was at this time that Deering established R2P Innovations, which stands for “Responsibility to Protect,” with the sole focus to design the world’s most advanced bulletproof door system that would be light enough, match the school aesthetic, be fire-rated, and yet provide extremely high levels of protection against assault-rifle fire.

Deering is quoted as saying that school safety and security is very much a multi-layered approach, but during the worst of situations (active shooter), nothing could be more important than providing the innocent with a means to place an impenetrable shield between themselves and abject danger. This is the very same reason we provide bulletproof vests to members law enforcement, issue body armor to our service members, and post-9/11, install bulletproof doors into the cockpits of commercial airliners and even our elected officials in Washington, D.C., and diplomats overseas are protected behind bulletproof doors.

It is beyond question that our nation’s most innocent should be provided this same level of protection. Every school in the United States has fire-rated doors to protect children from fire; so, then, what should we use to protect children from bullets? The harsh reality is that over 500 children have been shot to death at school in the last 25 years.

Although the genesis for R2P was to protect young children at school, the significant growth that the company has experienced has been derived from protecting the highest levels of the U.S. government.

R2P was the first company in the world to successfully pass the U.S. Department of State testing criteria for FEBR (forced-entry and ballistic resistance) to the Rev. H government standard.

This was a significant increase in protection that came about after the attack in Benghazi when ambassador Christopher Stevens and three U.S. citizens were killed.

Earlier this year, R2P was thanked by the South Carolina delegation in Washington, D.C. for the important work that they have done in securing our nation’s capital.

“This recognition is testament to the pedigree of our life-saving technology,” says Deering. “Although we still have much work to do to afford this same level of protection to our nation’s most innocent and our future generations.”

It is a sad reality that these doors are actually needed, but it is a reality. We have seen all too often that an R2P door would have saved the lives of many innocent children if they would have been installed in schools.

The tragedies at Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde, Santa Fe, Nashville, and Minneapolis have become all too common and unless our country’s leadership prioritize providing this life-saving technology, these heartbreaking events will continue.

From 1970 to 2000, over 300 commercial airliners were hijacked in the Western world, but it took losing 3,000 people in one single day for leadership to realize that one of the most effective ways to prevent similar tragedies from taking place was to install bulletproof doors in commercial airliners worldwide.

Deering is quoted as saying, “I sincerely hope that our elected officials and administrators do not wait for the 9/11 of school shootings to come to this same realization, that the most important protocol that can be provided to students and teachers in the case of an armed assault is the world’s most advanced bulletproof door.”

When people ask about the cost of an R2P door, Deering answers, “Less than a dime a day because this is what it will cost to give a child the absolute best chance of survival if the worst of situations were to unfold. $10,500 divided by 40 years, divided by 20 kids in a classroom, divided by 170 school days per year equals $.08 per day.”

“Unfortunately, I think that we have to increase security in our schools. We have to make the doors lock better. We have to make the door stronger. We’ve got to make the windows stronger.” – J.D. Vance, Vice President of the United States