 | Bob Crager of Lewis Street Glass is a 26 year veteran in the glass business. Lewis Street Glass is a leading Wichita Glass company, serving the entire Wichita/Sedgwick County area since 1919. They do anything and everything having to do with glass, both residential and commercial. They also do Auto glass. They are located at 743 South Market, facing Kellogg on the South, and you can reach them by phone at (316) 263-8259. You can email Bob Crager at bcrager@lewisstreetglass.com |
Glass
2010-03-01 08:47:00
Glass that is protecting our troops
Question: I feel pretty smart about “smart glass”, thanks to you. You wrote 2 or 3 years ago about military bullet proof glass, and I started to think about bullet proof glass…my son was in Iraq, and is now in Afghanistan…any improvements I should know about since then?
Answer: As a matter of fact, there are some improvements you should know about, and thanks for the question. Let’s start with the heavy Humvees used in Iraq for patrolling the roads. The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee) is a military 4WD motor vehicle created by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles formerly served by smaller type vehicles in previous wars and skirmishes. In those humvees, I wrote that the windows were being built of a “one way bullet resistant glass that allowed the troops to return fire through the glass while being protected by that same glass from hostile enemy fire from the outside. It’s called “unidirectional” armor. It’s unconventional, and is well suited for unconventional warfare, (ied’s) as well as uncommon tactical situations. In some situations, there is just no other option but to shoot back at the attackers through the one way glass in order to make the chance for survival a little better.
Today, in places like Afghanistan, where there is a lot more mountainous terrain where the fighting is taking place, our soldiers have begun driving vehicles that offer more protection than ever before, with highly protective windows for what is actually a military patrol all terrain vehicle, or ATV. The Defense Department awarded a contract to an American company in Indiana to build the windows for the lighter weight armored windows in these vehicles. Sometimes it appears that the government awards these kinds of contracts to companies overseas, but sometimes the contract is awarded to an American company on the soil of the homeland. Refreshing, huh? There are actually over 1500 Indiana companies that are engaged with agencies such as the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, as well as the aerospace programs managed by NASA, with contracts totaling more than 5.1 billion dollars. Not bad for our Indiana friends. A lot of these workers have family and friends serving in the military overseas right now, and they feel good about being involved in making products to help keep them safer.
The mine resistant, ambush protected ATV’s are being built by a Wisconsin company, which was responsible for selecting the companies to build the component parts of the vehicles, such as the windows, which are transparent glass-ceramic products, offering the highest protection for the troops with the lowest weight. Weight is a critical factor for the M-ATV’s. Mine resistant and ambush protected, humvee vehicles were first developed for U.S. troops in Iraq, however, the 40,000 pound vehicles were difficult to maneuver in the rugged, mountainous landscape of Afghanistan. As a result, the lighter, 25,000 pound M-ATVs were developed, which required all parts of the vehicle to provide high performance at a lower weight, including the windows.
The people inside the vehicle can, obviously, see out, but also be protected from whatever type of bullets, IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) or other kinds of threats the enemy could be using against them. Another innovative feature that helped this company’s transparent armor stand out from competitors is its compatibility with soldiers’ night vision equipment. The materials used in other transparent armor filter out infrared light, so the night vision systems aren’t useful from inside the vehicles.
“But this transparent armor is highly transparent at the infrared range, so you can see what’s going on outside the vehicle using night vision equipment. And that is a really big step forward.”
These specialty windows also filter out UV light, which can severely damage window systems in a short amount of time. This is especially important for the M-ATVs to withstand Afghanistan’s desert climate, greatly prolonging the windows’ lifetime and durability.
The company manufacturing the M-ATVs originally received orders for about 5,200 M-ATVs, but recently announced an additional 1,000 orders. Some industry analysts believe, with conflict in Afghanistan intensifying and the likelihood of increasing the number of U.S. troops, orders for the M-ATVs could eventually approach 10,000. Time will tell that story. The US Army and Marine Corps are receiving the new vehicles, and they will hopefully protect the lives of U.S. soldiers in the line of danger. A little off the subject of “smart glass”, but interesting none the less…some information was researched on the world wide web…More next month…
