IOTN (USHG) to hide under a new name (AERG)

"TUCSON, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ionatron, Inc., (Nasdaq:IOTN - News), today announced that effective February 20, 2008 it will change its corporate name to Applied Energetics, Inc., and the company's shares will begin trading on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker symbol "AERG". The name change reflects the transition of the company from its roots in directed energy weapons research, to its emerging mix of engineering and production programs for military, aerospace, and industrial customers.

Commenting on the name change, Applied Energetics’ Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Dana Marshall stated, “Our company has moved well beyond our foundation in scientific discovery. Our new name is intended to better express this focus on delivering practical capability, and reflect the broadening of our targeted markets and applications. Our customers have embraced our innovative concepts for guided energy, and today we are meeting their needs for well engineered production hardware for their real-world applications. We also hope that this new name will highlight the significant changes we’ve made to our management approach as we have matured this business over the past two years.”

In conjunction with the name change, the company’s new website www.appliedenergetics.com will be online starting February 18, 2008." -source

You can change your name, but we won't forget. It looks like Robert Howard and Thomas Dearmin ditched a while ago, what a sorry story that was:

Nov 11, 2005: "Tucson-based Ionatron Inc. says testing is on track for a device intended to detect and destroy improvised bombs for the U.S. military in Iraq but that details remain top secret.

Ionatron Inc. Chief Executive Thomas Dearmin told analysts the company's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Neutralizer has been tested by the military, "and they have determined the units have military utility."

He said the military has asked for pricing proposals for production quantities of 50, 500, 1,000 and 2,000 units.

The devices are supposed to detect improvised bombs, which are responsible for most of the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and destroy them with an electrical pulse.

Dearmin said the company's Stennis, Miss., manufacturing plant is being readied for production, but it is unclear when any contract would be offered or signed.

"They've asked us to ramp up the Stennis facility for production, and we're doing that on our own," he said.

An official of the Defense Department's Joint IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) Defeat Task Force would confirm only that the Ionatron devices remain "under testing.""

It was a real shame that none of these things ever materialized yet Dearmin walked away with almost $10M in stock sales in 2006 and 2007. Furthermore, he still owns over 7M shares even after the insider trading scandal!! I remember owning shares when USHG changed their ticker to IOTN and when they took it to the Nasdaq, it seems like such a long time ago...

Their old site is still up here, anyone have a link to that first presentation with Star Trek and Terminator 2 images? That was classic. I guess they'll have to change the acronym for their new "laser group."