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So, why is the 3-D IPS™ System such a revolutionary improvement?
The realities of today's violent world require extraordinary efforts to protect people, buildings, and myriad other potential terrorist targets such as oil pipelines and nuclear power plants.
Previously available physical security barriers are handicapped by numerous and significant shortcomings. In response to these needs, Ballistics Research, Inc., offers Advanced Anti-Ballistic Composite (AABC) and the 3-D Interlocking Protection System (3-D IPS), which may overcome those shortcomings and prove vitally useful to security and defense efforts in the age of terrorism. The new material described here, especially when used in the form of the interlocking modular system, can be expected to provide a higher level of physical security for government, commercial and private facilities and the people and assets within, along with marked advantages on the battlefield and in the security of those in and around zones of chronic conflict.
Soldiers, especially in close combat, need the best possible mobile bunkers. They need a way to quickly assemble highly protective cover that is durable and easily broken down for rapid mobility. Domestic buildings, facilities, and the people within need protection. Government buildings, financial and health institutions, chemical plants, military outposts both at home and abroad, as well as other potential targets too numerous to name, badly need greater protection against bomb blasts, rocket-propelled grenades, automatic weapons fire and other means of attack.
Petroleum production and distribution units and systems need protection. Oil field facilities, refineries, thousands of miles of petroleum pipelines, and thousands of pumping stations must be secured. One or two successful strikes against major energy systems could conceivably send the world's economy reeling and compromise the nation's capacity for defense.
The conventional types of protective barriers and barrier materials now in use are plagued with a variety of shortcomings.
For example:
- No barrier materials currently in use may be vertically locked to raise the barrier's protection level.
- Most barrier materials degrade seriously or disintegrate in the face of sustained attack from small arms, rocket-propelled grenades, or explosive blasts, and thus lose effectiveness.
- Security against terrorist attacks is difficult to establish for buildings. Protective barriers that are durable and truly effective often must be custom made at enormous cost, whether they are retrofits or part of new construction.
- Most barriers cannot be quickly and easily configured to meet the size and shape need at hand, nor can they easily be reinforced when and if the need arises.
- Many types of barriers require the availability of local resources such as sand, or water, as well as installation times that are sometimes unacceptably long.
- These problems can be disastrous when the need arises for quick construction of bunkers, for example in an urban warfare setting.
Manufacture of the AABC™ material is not limited to the cubic modules described in the following section. It can be produced in any shape in which its properties are desired. For example, an office desk produced wholly or partially from AABC could be utilized for personal protection in the event of attack. Interlocking cubic modules made from AABC, the patent-pending "building blocks" of the 3-D IPS, are produced in virtually any size. For example, some applications may call for cubes that measure 10" X 10" X 10", while other applications may be better served by other sizes.
 Each module interlocks on all six sides with any other cube of the same size, affording the installer speed of assembly and flexibility in configuration. No tools or formal instructions are required for assembly, and every cube of the same size is identical to all its mates; There are no special corner modules or end caps. Interlocked cubes form extremely strong structures built to any desired size and configuration, with walls of any thickness. After use, the modules are disassembled and stored or transported for reuse.
The 3-D IPS™ may be used to shield bunkers, buildings, pipelines, pump stations and any critical need equipment or installation that requires protection from ballistic or explosive attack. Military units with a need for permanent, semi-permanent or highly mobile physical security may find the modules convenient and valuable. Existing buildings are easily and quickly protected with the 3-D IPS, and the system may find favor in new construction applications as well.
Testing
AABC™ (12" thickness) has been successfully tested against the following weapons:
- 5.56mm (M16) FMJ, HP, AP & Tracer
- 7.62X39 (AK-47) FMJ, HP, AP & Tracer
- .308 FMJ, AP and tracer
- .30-06 FMJ & AP
- .300 Win Mag SP & HP
- 7mm Rem Mag SP & HP
- .50 BMG FMJ, AP, tracer and incendiary
- All known shotgun rounds
- All known handgun calibers
Additionally, AABC™ (in 12" thickness) has been successfully tested against the following blast ordnance:
- detonation cord
- military dynamite
- improvised explosive devices
- pipe bombs
In another test, a 6' thickness of AABC™ successfully protected against a blast from 6.5 lbs. of military dynamite. That explosion replicates the force of a direct strike from a rocket-propelled grenade.
3D-IPS™ Specifications and Options
AABC™ is a new, patent-pending, composite polymer material with a very high strength-to-weight ratio. It is capable of stopping and safely absorbing projectiles from small arms fire and every kind of conventional (non-nuclear) explosive device.
Typically, materials used to shield against attack, especially those not too heavy for practical transport and installation, degrade under fire. AABC, by contrast, absorbs and encapsulates projectiles, and actually gains density as a result. In testing, several small blocks of AABC that have each absorbed more than 6,000 rounds of various weapons fire and shotgun slugs show that the trapped projectiles actually increase the material's strength and protective character.
 Projectiles that strike AABC™ directly in line with previous hits continue to be absorbed into the material, where they "back-stack". The result of back-stacked bullets is shown in the photo at left. Nine .45 caliber slugs that were fired one after another into a single point on a piece of AABC are shown.
Barriers of AABC™ 12" and thicker, provide protection against the most common explosive and small arms threats. The material's capacity to safely absorb projectiles is not compromised by any kind of explosive shock. A 12" cube of the material weighs approximately 80 to 90 lbs., depending on the density required for its specific application. |
