Where’s the Shining Armor? explains how new technology aims to better protect soldiers and vehicles in Iraq:
‘What’s been highlighted in Iraq is how do you provide protection to people riding in wheeled vehicles,’ says Bruce Fink, chief of the materials division of the Army Research Laboratory (ARL). ‘Historically, we have not put a lot of effort into trying to protect people in wheeled vehicles because they weren’t supposed to be in areas where they are under direct fire. But, unfortunately, that’s the situation we’re in — where we’re getting a lot of direct fire at wheeled vehicles.’
The already well-armored Bradley fighting vehicle is getting reactive armor — explosives mounted on the outside of the vehicle to disrupt incoming shaped-charge explosions:
Indeed, the army lists both body armor and wheeled vehicle protection among its top 10 capability gaps. Helping to bridge that gap is a new type of add-on reactive armor jointly developed by Rafael Armament Development Authority in Israel and the General Dynamics’ Armament and Technical Products unit in Burlington,Vt. Reactive armor is being added to tracked Bradley fighting vehicles as a counter to RPGs after its successful — and secret — use by Israeli defense forces for many years. According to a spokeperson for General Dynamics, reactive armor consists of 105 tiles that attach to the sides, turret and front of each Bradley. The tiles, which look like small boxes, contain a special explosive charge that detonates when hit by a missile or rocket with a shaped-charge warhead. The resulting explosion disrupts the incoming, armor-penetrating gas jet produced by a RPG, for example, so the Bradley remains unharmed. Upgrading Bradley fighting vehicles with reactive armor is a process that will continue for some time. Rafael and General Dynamics will produce 80 kits for the U.S. Army this fall in a deal worth $23.5 million and another 60 kits for $17 million by July of 2005.
For whatever reason, I find the idea of spray-on truck-bed liner as armor fascinating:
Humvees and Stryker vehicles, however, cannot support the added weight of reactive armor. Just adding steel plating to Humvees places added strain on suspension and drivetrain systems not designed with armor in mind, putting those vehicles out of service more frequently than expected. The solution may be spray-on polymer armor now being developed by the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR). The spray-on armor is similar to a polymer commonly used as a spray-on truck bed liner. It’s made from either polyurethane, polyurea or a mixture of the two. When applied to steel, the polymer spreads out the shock of an explosion and helps prevent impacted material from shattering. In tests, a 500-pound bomb detonated near two trailers obliterated the unarmored trailer but only buckled the walls of the trailer whose walls were coated with the rubbery polymer.
The spray-on polymer is easy to apply and only costs ~$10k per vehicle — but it’s quite an insulator, and that could be a problem for a vehicle in the desert.