Vehicle Armour

Vehicle Armour

Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored) to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, missiles, or shells, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include tanks, aircraft, and ships.

Civilian vehicles may also be armoured. These vehicles include cars used by reporters, officials and others in conflict zones or where violent crime is common, and presidential limousines. Armoured cars are also routinely used by security firms to carry money or valuables to reduce the risk of highway robbery or the hijacking of the cargo.

Armour may also be used in vehicles to protect from threats other than a deliberate attack. Some spacecraft are equipped with specialised armour to protect them against impacts from micrometeoroids or fragments of space junk. Modern aircraft powered by turbine engines usually have them fitted with a sort of armour in the form of an aramid composite kevlar bandage around the fan casing or of debris containment walls built into the casing of their gas turbine engines to prevent injuries or airframe damage should the fan/compressor/turbine wheel disintegrate.

The design and purpose of the vehicle determines the amount of armour plating carried, as the plating is often very heavy and excessive amounts of armour restrict mobility. In order to decrease this problem, some new materials (nanomaterials) and material compositions are being researched which include buckypaper, aluminium foam armour plates, ...