A Russian company is developing nanotechnology that would allow production of light-weight ceramic armor for the military and police as early as by the end of 2015, the Izvestia newspaper said Tuesday.
Ceramic armor plates manufactured with the use of boron carbide powder will be used to make bulletproof vests, armor protection for combat vehicles and even for combat aircraft as they would be four times lighter than the existing armor plates.
“The effectiveness of protection…will be 5-6 times higher than that of existing armor while the price will drop by up to 25 percent compared to existing models,” Izvestia cited officials from the Novosibirsk-based NEVZ-Soyuz company.
According to the company, boron carbide armor plates used in bulletproof vests would ensure effective protection from 7.62-mm rounds while vehicle armor would be able stop 12.7-mm and 14.5-mm rounds.
Company experts point out that the new nano-armor could be used effectively to ensure anti-bullet protection of combat transport helicopters, such as the famed Mi-8 Hip, which does not have reliable armor protection.
The Russian government has allocated 145 million rubles ($4.4 mln) for the development of nano-armor technology.
NEVZ-Soyuz is planning to make the first prototypes by December and test them until November 2014.
The production of ceramic armor plates should start in the fourth quarter of 2015, the company said.
