Posted on 17 Feb 2011
IBD achieved important improvements with the development of various materials needed for the production of ballistic protection kits. During Eurosatory 2010 IBD already presented new ceramic and steel technologies with improved ballistic properties allowing weight savings of up to 30 %. Now the development leads to further improvements in the performance of these materials.
IBD focused its development activities on nano-ceramics (opaque and transparent) and nanometric steel. With the current achievements the weight of protection kits can be reduced by more than 40%. E.g. IBD developed a protection kit according to STANAG 4569 Level 3 with a weight of 32 Kg/m2 only, compared to a typical weight of 60 kg/m2 with standard technologies.
This new technology also shows a far better ballistic performance in regard to IEDs. The protection kit according to STANAG 4569 Level 3 is also safe against 20 mm FSP according to STANAG 4569 LEVEL 4.
These results are in line with the need for so called polyvalent protection systems. The broad range of threats requires technologies that are equally usable for different threats so that they cannot be bypassed by easy modifications of the threats.
These weight savings can be used to balance the needs for higher protection because of increased threat levels and the requirements for higher mobility, payload and reduced life cycle costs. With the availability of these materials in production quantities at competitive costs, first vehicles have been equipped with these new technologies and are deployed to theatre now.
An example for the combined application of the nano-ceramics and nanometric steel for the ballistic and IED protection is the MPV 4x4 vehicle from Iveco.
The problem of reduced stability with glued materials under high temperatures and humidity has been eliminated with IBD‘s new gluing systems.
The new materials are insensitive against humidity and maintain their mechanical stability up to 120°C.
The following vehicles have already been equipped with the new technologies (examples):
Medium Protected Vehicle (MPV) 4x4, SUPERAV 8x8 and ASTRA truck from Iveco, Armoured Modular Vehicle (AMV) 8x8 from Patria, VAB 4x4 and 6x6 from Renault, Leopard 2 Evolution for Singapore.
The improvements make these technologies especially interesting for applications in the aircraft industry. The product AMAPTM-?AIR was specifically dedicated for the protection of aircrafts and helicopters and is now used on the Tiger helicopter.
