It is while traveling that people are most at risk of armed or violent assault. An armored vehicle gives travelers the critical extra time
needed at the moment of attack to escape with their lives.
Unlike in films, armored vehicles do not deflect bullets without damage, and do not usually have offensive weaponry. They are designed for
defensive use, to withstand a certain type and number of hits fired from a certain type of firearm at a certain speed.
How Armor Works
Steel and ceramic armor plating function the same way as the iron suits worn by medieval knights: they are so hard and dense that they deflect
or redirect the energy of a bullet or other weapon. The armor material pushes out on the bullet with the same force (or nearly the same force)
with which the bullet pushes in, so the armor is not penetrated. The harder and denser the material, the better its ballistic properties.
Aramid fiber armor plating, such as Kevlar or Twaron, reacts differently to bullets. Aramids are not hard like steel or ceramic, so instead of
deflecting or redirecting the bullet’s energy, aramids absorb and disperse the energy from the point of impact over a wide area. A bullet
pushes on a horizontal length of fibers, and the bullet’s energy pulls on every interlaced vertical fiber. Provided the fibers are woven and
layered together in sufficient mass, they’ll absorb the bullet’s inertial energy.
Ballistic glass also gains its bullet-resistant quality by its thickness, or mass. Ballistic glass consists of standard automotive glass
inter-layered with a polycarbonate material in a process called lamination. Bullets fired at sufficiently thick ballistic glass will pierce
the outside layer, but the mass of the glass will absorb the bullet's energy and stop it before it enters the vehicle.
Armor Levels and Ballistics
Armoring levels define the threat that the armoring systems protect against. While some, like the NIJ and CEN standards, are common to a region,
there is no single standard for vehicle armoring levels in use worldwide. Each country, continent, or even manufacturer may have its own standards.
This is why every armoring level should detail the following:
The exact ammunition (not the weapon) it protects against
The ammunition’s impact velocity
The number of hits at a given spacing that the armor can withstand
This data, along with credible independent test verification data, is the best comparison measure for what “level” of armoring you are being quoted.
All of the types of materials used in Scaletta’s armoring process are tested independently by H.P. White Laboratories and the University of Dayton
Research Institute Impact Physics Laboratory. The data is available for your review by contacting us.