 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Lockheed Martin Demonstrates Revolutionary Tactical Vehicle Armor
Dallas TX (SPX) May 30, 2006 Lockheed Martin has developed and demonstrated a new lightweight, low-cost tactical vehicle armor that promises exceptional multi-hit survivability against armor-piercing rifle bullets and high-speed fragments from improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The Macro-Composite Protection System (MAPS) armor will provide armor-piercing, bullet, fragment/shrapnel and blast protection with tactical theater durability and maintainability at a very low cost. The armor-as-a-system was developed by Lockheed Martin as a solution to the coupled threat effects often encountered in today's urban tactical environments, such as a bomb blast followed by a swarm of projectiles or armor-piercing sniper fire. "We believe MAPS is a breakthrough in protective technology," said David Hunn, director - Mechanical Engineering at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "MAPS armor promises to provide an entirely new level of vehicle and personal protection to our forces that could save lives. And it should prove much less expensive than current ceramic armors once in production." MAPS armor is undergoing ballistic testing and has successfully shown protection against realistic armor piercing and fragmentation threats with no penetration, at a weight approximately 50 percent less than its equivalent in steel armor protection. Lockheed Martin has briefed the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps on preliminary testing results, and provided MAPS armor samples to the services for independent testing. Results of those tests should be available later this year. MAPS armor is made out of a Lockheed Martin-developed macro-composite material encased in shock-absorbing polymers with a metallic strike face and spall plate. In recent testing, MAPS successfully stopped four successive shots of 7.62mm armor-piercing bullets striking at high velocity within a four-inch diameter circle. "In addition to its capabilities against IEDs and armor-piercing bullets, we plan to study MAPS' ability to provide a level of protection against hand grenades, mines and other battlefield threats," Hunn added. "We are continuing our development and testing of MAPS armor to collect more performance data on a variety of threats, and prepare the material for future applications." Although developed for military ground vehicle applications, Lockheed Martin also envisions potential application for commercial armored cars and vehicles, helicopters and ground attack aircraft applications. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links - The latest in Military Technology for the 21st century at SpaceWar.com
Raytheon AN SPY-3 Multifunction Radar Successfully Conducts At-Sea Testing
Tewksbury MA (SPX) May 30, 2006The U.S. Navy's first shipboard active phased array multifunction radar, Raytheon's AN/SPY-3, has successfully participated in a series of at-sea tests to confirm its unique capabilities -- including the first time the radar has acquired and tracked a live controlled aircraft while at sea. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
