Ballistic Protection
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RONIN ARMOUR has introduced the first hybrid anti-trauma solution, combining CURV by PROPEX with the company’s proprietary urethane polymer to mitigate more energy in a lighter and slimmer package.
Previous ventures in anti-trauma body armor technology yielded RONIN ARMOUR its CARNA polymer solution, a proprietary urethane polymer which exhibits impact-hardening properties and an extremely low compression set while also being among the most flexible urethane blends on the market.
These advancements allowed for baseline improvements over some competing anti-trauma solutions by providing a 15-20% reduction in weight at similar thicknesses and with no penalty against flexibility.
By combining these previous advancements in polymer technology with the CURV composite, RONIN ARMOUR is seeing a further doubling or in some cases tripling of engaged surface area depending on the threat mitigated, while only adding a third of a centimeter in thickness, and a few grams of extra material.
“When we started experimenting with fusing CURV to our CARNA polymer, we saw a whole new world of performance improvements that could be added to our lineups,” said Anders Ahlmann, lead of product development at RONIN ARMOUR.
“Quite a few external anti-trauma solutions out there rely purely on thickness, and thereby void content, to provide their impact mitigating effect. Obviously, by introducing 10 millimeters of space between your armor and the testing medium, you’ll see about a 10 millimeter reduction in backface signature,” Anders continued. “We’re providing a higher ratio of impact mitigation to thickness with this new solution, meaning personnel are carrying less unnecessary weight around compared to existing solutions, and decreasing the bulk of their equipment as there’s just less wasted space in total.”
The company sees future possibilities for the solution, and is currently working on a modified rigid version for use in hybrid rifle protection systems, such as plates and shields, with long-term plans to replace the liner system currently used in their VANGUARD helmets with moulded pads made from the new material layup.
“We’re including this anti-trauma solution in most of our ballistic systems going forward ourselves, but we’re also providing it as a standalone package as we see it as an affordable upgrade path for older armor systems that might not necessarily warrant a complete replacement,” Anders concluded.
