Meeting the Ballistic Threat to Security Forces
11 November 2009
With the threat from terrorists and armed criminals growing steadily, many law enforcement agencies are expressing concern about the protection of their personnel on the ground and in the air. The range of threats, from small arms through rocket propelled grenades to improvised explosive devices such as explosively formed projectiles is growing and, to be effective against such threats, the ballistic protection of vehicles, helicopters and boats must develop quickly to stay ahead.
In an ideal world, such protection would be “designed in” at the first stages of development, and many of the recently fielded mine protected military vehicles have incorporated such design, with v-shaped monocoque hulls and driving positions well away from the axles. Unfortunately, most vehicles, helicopters and boats used by security forces and law enforcement agencies around the world were not built with ballistic protection in mind and cannot be fundamentally redesigned. Their ballistic protection can, however, be significantly improved by the use of additional armour, both externally and internally. Moreover, if such armour can be installed and removed as the threat levels change, not only can logistic flexibility be increased but also acquisition cost can be reduced.
Of course, if the installation of such ballistic protection results in a significant increase to the platform weight and a consequent decrease in mobility, range and payload, the benefits will be lost. However, modern light weight armour solutions, using materials like polyethylene, aramid, glass fibre and ceramic composites, can provide substantially improved protection levels with much less additional weight than that of traditional armour materials such as steel or aluminium.
Light weight armour manufacturers and integrators like MKU are able to offer such solutions for security force and law enforcement agency vehicles, helicopters and boats, either when they are being built or later, when they are being upgraded to meet higher threat levels. At the Milipol exhibition (Booth 1/3F/012), MKU will be displaying a range of its light weight armour solutions, many already in service, and briefing original equipment manufacturers, upgrade project managers and end users on its capabilities.
