Avon Protection Systems, a leading designer and manufacturer of respiratory protection products, will once again sponsor the 2010 U.S. National SWAT Championships held June 21–26 at the US Shooting Academy in Tulsa, Okla.

The U.S. National SWAT Championships is a competition for SWAT teams from across the country. The competition consists of eight live-fire events over the course of three days. All eight stages are modeled after real-life scenarios.

The Avon Barricaded Gunman event will feature Avon Protection System's FM53. In this stage each team must enter a shoothouse by breaching a door, deploying a flash-bang distraction device, then clearing each room as they look for the barricaded gunman, all while wearing full tactical gear, including the FM53 air purifying respirator.

Avon's FM53 tactical mask enables users to operate the mask in all recognized modes of Respiratory Protective Equipment. A patented Variable Resistance Exhalation Unit (VREU) allows the mask to function as a negative and positive pressure mask system. Users can easily rotate the VREU Lever to switch between negative pressure and positive pressure modes. This allows the FM53 to function as a stand-alone APR or as an SCBA, PAPR, or CCBA.

"Avon's continued support of the competition shows their dedication to law enforcement training. Avon's personal protection equipment provides top-notch protection that these SWAT teams really can't afford to be without," says Rick Porter, director of competition for the US National SWAT Championships. 

The competition is owned and managed by Advanced SWAT Training LLC, an Arizona company specializing in tactical team training for law enforcement and military agencies.