darpa armor chanlange

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Professor Fickle RE:darpa armor chanlange 2/13/2006 6:08:55 PM

Here are the basic requirements The purpose of the DARPA Armor challenge is to identify revolutionary and promising new armor systems for military vehicles. The Armor Challenge is aimed primarily at inventors and small organizations who do not have the resources to initiate full-scale armor development programs. The Armor Challenge is an opportunity for developers to obtain a rapid and impartial assessment of their existing armor designs with testing of submitted armor panels in a series of ?shoot-outs? at a certified ballistics laboratory. Participants in the Armor Challenge will be selected by DARPA based on the criteria listed below, and selectees will be invited to send test samples of their novel armor designs for testing at an independent facility. Funding will NOT be provided for Research and Development, but DARPA will reimburse for the cost of manufacturing and shipping of the samples. DARPA will fund all ballistic testing at an independent laboratory to ensure that armor performance is judged consistently by an objective organization operating with recognized, highest standards. Samples that demonstrate superior performance against one or more threats, or that incorporate a particularly innovative design feature, will be considered by DARPA for further development. TECHNICAL SCOPE The focus of the Armor Challenge is to identify promising armor systems for military vehicles. There is no requirement to include specific classes of materials in the armor, although it is anticipated that successful systems may be combinations of more than one material type. Passive armor systems are desired. However, non-passive systems operating within the confines of the armor will be considered. ?Bullet-on-bullet? or similar techniques that use a projectile or directed energy to defeat a threat beyond the plane of the armor panel are outside the scope of this challenge. The primary goal for the Armor Challenge is a 50% reduction in weight compared to rolled homogeneous armor (RHA) steel for the following threats: (1) 7.62x39mm ball round (AK-47), (2) 7.62mm armor piercing round (specific type to be determined), and (3) 0.50 caliber fragment simulating projectile (FSP). A secondary goal is the feasibility for producing vehicle armor materials at a cost competitive with or less than RHA steel. Proposers should expect to deliver three (3) eighteen inch (18 in.) by eighteen inch (18 in.) panels for each threat to be addressed. It is acceptable to propose a different panel configuration or weight to address each threat, but armor systems that can provide protection against the range of threats using a single configuration will be evaluated more favorably. -=-=-

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