West Tek West Tek was one of the defense contractors under employment by the United States and the primary operator of the West Tek research facility in California . Background . Founded in 2002 , the West Tek research facility was initially divided into two sections , " " Advanced Weapons " " and " " Biomedical Sciences Research " " , by 2069 it was the single biggest private contractor of the American government , with its biggest project being the T - 51b power armor for use by infantry soldiers on the front - lines . Its second - largest was the Pan - Immunity Virion Project ( PVP ) , later known as the Forced Evolutionary Virus ( FEV ) . In 2076 , the research facility was secured by a military contingent for fear of international espionage , shortly afterwards , the PVP research was moved to the Mariposa Military Base , where experimentation on human subjects would continue . Several other projects were also being pursued , including energy weapons and upgrading existing armor . Research projects . NBC division . Pan - Immunity Virion Project / Forced Evolutionary Virus . In 2055 , the West Tek research facility started working on a new virus to kill the New Plague . The ZAX 1 . 2 computer was brought in to regulate conditions in West Tek . It calmly calculated data and played chess with the scientists . Many scientists claimed that ZAX cheated and drew the game out too much for a computer of his considerable abilities . As China became increasingly aggressive with their use of biological weapons , the United States government felt that a countermeasure was needed . The Pan - Immunity Virion Project was officially formed on September 15 , 2073 and plans were made to begin experiments at West Tek . After a series of experiments , the pan - immunity virion was renamed FEV - the Forced Evolutionary Virus in March 2075 , as increased size , muscle density , and intelligence are noted among test animals . On January 3 , 2076 , a military team under the command of Colonel Robert Spindel was sent to the West Tek research facility to monitor the experiments in the interest of national security . Captain Roger Maxson , future founder of the Brotherhood of Steel , was amongst the team personnel . In October 2076 , large progress was made in FEV research , and the government preferred to move the project to a location under military supervision . On January 7 , 2077 , Major Barnett ordered transfer of all FEV research to the newly - constructed Mariposa Base , despite objections by the research team . Along with the scientists , Spindel ' s military team was sent to Mariposa . Advanced weapons research . Head of Laser Development : Charles Ringhold The primary research goal of this division was the creation of the power armor . After years of painstaking research , the first suits were created and deployed on the Anchorage Front Line to reclaim it from the Chinese . Although lacking the mobility of future versions , the T - 45d suits performed at the height of specifications . The pinnacle of research was the T - 51b powered combat infantry armor , though it was later re - engineered into the Enclave advanced power armor . Additionally , West Tek focused resources on energy weapons research , and while it was private companies that manufactured the weapons themselves ( Wattz , Winchester , Yuma Flats Energy Consortium , Glock ) , it ' s not a far fetched assumption that West Tek provided the necessary scientific foundation for the creation of energy weapons . Appearances . West Tek ' s facilities appear in " Fallout " , while the parent company is mentioned in " Fallout 3 " . The company is mentioned in " Fallout 4 " by Sturges when he tells the Sole Survivor about components in power armor that were manufactured by West Tek .