Typical advanced armor for tactical vehicles and protective shelters uses multiple elements and materials to defeat a variety of threats. Simply bolting on various materials to existing structures may successfully defend against the threats but also substantially add to the overall vehicle weight. In addition, attaching those additional structures to mobile platforms like vehicles can be difficult and time consuming. The Ducommun VersaCore Composite™ armor system combines the structure and the armor into one integrated part. This approach provides a direct replacement for the existing part with one in which the armor is built in. And, that substantially reduces the overall vehicle weight while providing superior performance.
Parts can be made complete with armor in a few sequential steps.
The difference
Unlike conventional armors that are usually constructed of flat plates of materials and cut to shape, parts made with the Ducommun VersaCore Composite™ armor system are molded to shape, incorporating the armor directly into the final part. The approach is non-material specific. That means that VersaCore Composite™ armor system parts can incorporate a variety of materials such as composites, ceramics and metals for various structural and defensive strategies.
The unique construction methods and materials in VersaCore Composite™ armor also incorporate thermal and acoustic insulation, thus, reducing demands on vehicle systems and providing an improved environment for the occupants.
The VersaCore Composite™ armor system approach eliminates cumbersome and heavy attachment methods, and reduces the resulting gaps and overlaps. By molding to shape, the VersaCore Composite™ armor system also allows the armor to follow vehicle contours, which reduces weight. This can further reduce weight by bringing the armor closer to the vehicle occupants, thus, nominally reducing the surface area.
Molding to shape produces interchangeable, replaceable parts that can be quickly changed-out on the vehicle if and when necessary. This allows a high level of flexibility such as when parts with different levels of protection or functionality are interchanged to suit mission requirements. Molding-to-shape will further reduce the overall vehicle weight by incorporating features. This eliminates the problems of weight and handling that need to be attended to with bolt-on armor.
For a more detailed description of how Ducommun's VersaCore Composite™ technologies achieve these benefits, click here.
VersaCore Composite™ is a trademark of Ducommun Incorporated.
