With their armed forces ever more heavily engaged in the asymmetric warfare of Afghanistan, many governments are expressing concern about the protection of troops 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 military vehicles, helicopters and transport aircraft 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 vehicles have incorporated such design, with v-shaped monocoque hulls and driving positions well away from the axles. Unfortunately, many other vehicles and most helicopters and transport aircraft deployed in Afghanistan and other combat zones 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 on the way to, in or on the way out of the theatre of operations, 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, aramide, 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 aircraft, vehicles and naval vessels when they are being built or later, when they are being upgraded to meet higher threat levels. At the DSEi exhibition (Stand 1924), 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.



About MKU
MKU Pvt. Ltd. Is one of the world’s leading suppliers of personal and platform ballistic protection solutions, with its products in service in over 50 countries around the world. Using only the highest quality materials and continuously improving its modern factories in India and Germany, MKU has spent the last 24 years building up a broad product portfolio that includes ballistic vests, helmets and shields for military and security forces as well as light weight platform protection solutions for aircraft, land vehicles, naval vessels and static structures. MKU is a registered NATO supplier, and all its manufacturing facilities are certified to ISO 9001:2008.