perfidy

Liquid armor will soon be available in a store near you. As we reported some time ago, in a post I am too lazy to find, University of Delaware scientist Norman Wagner invented a remarkable material that is composed of polyethylene glycol and nanoscale bits of silica. The developers call it a "shear-thickening liquid," one which stiffens instantly when struck, and then re-liquifies instantly once the stress is gone. New materials for armor have been the focus of constant research ever since the introduction of Kevlar back in the seventies. While Kevlar flak jackets offered a significant degree of protection, astute observers have always been aware that Kevlar armor has never been able to protect from rifle fire, or even all shrapnel. Kevlar armor has been reinforced with everything from steel to ceramic plates in an effort to improve protection, but the sad result of most of these efforts was to greatly increase the weight of the armor. Researchers have also attempted to use a variety of other synthetic fibers, and even cloned spider silk, but these efforts were unable to produce anything noticeably more effective than Kevlar.

Armor Holdings, inc., a company until now primarily concerned with supplying the Army with vehicle armor, bought the rights to this technology, and hopes to be selling suits of liquid armor by early next year. At first, Wagner thought that the liquid armor might be applied almost like peanut butter, in a relatively thick layer. But experimentation showed that the greatest protective effect was achieved by applying many very thin layers of the liquid to sheets of Kevlar. The shear-thickening effect of the liquid is enhanced when the liquid is embedded in layers of Kevlar - the force of a blow is spread wider, resulting in greater protection for the wearer. By greatly enhancing the stopping power of Kevlar - less is needed. AH hopes that its new armor suits - with liquid armor sandwiched between two layers of ballistic fabric - will be significantly lighter than existing models. And, amazingly, it will also be cheaper to manufacture. The first target of their sales effort will be prison guards, for the reason that liquid armor will stop knife attacks - something even the best Kevlar has never been able to do. AH hopes that troops might start getting theirs by the end of 2007.

Liquid armor hasn't been alone in the field of advanced armor concepts. Back in 2005, we heard that Israeli researchers had developed a nanomaterial that was five times stronger than steel. A detailed and informative article can be found here, but there has been little news since. The Israeli nano-armor is rigid, and can take shock pressures of at least 250 tons per square centimeter and remain unmarred. That's fairly impressive. They are reportedly working on a newer version of the material - one constructed on the same principles (nanoscale inorganic fullerenes) but with a different base; Titanium Disulfide instead of Tungsten Disulfide. If this pans out, the resultant improved nano-armor should be even stronger, yet weigh a quarter as much.

If all of this research and production bears fruit, we could see American troops significantly better protected in a matter of years. That is, of course, all to the good. The introduction of lightweight, and - importantly - truly bulletproof armor could have a great effect on the conduct of military operations. Those who are interested in this sort of thing, and I am certainly one, spend our free time pondering how technology has changed warfare, and how it continues to change warfare today. We often focus on the complicated products of our computer and military industries. UAVs, missiles, missile defense systems, lasers, VTOL fighters and multi-billion dollar warships. Armor for the infantryman might not seem as big a thing, but it could be much bigger.

Imagine a Marine. He has ApNano armor covering his head, torso, arms and legs. His helmet and armor is made of a material capable of deflecting a shot from a .50 caliber machine gun at close range. The joints between the hard armor are protected by liquid armor cloth. While not as effective as the hard armor, it will fully protect him from smaller caliber weapons and most shrapnel. Imagine further that all this armor weighs half what the current Interceptor plus K Pot weighs, thanks to the miracle of advanced materials science, the whole armor system weighs in at a miniscule 20 pounds.

This Marine is mobile. His lightweight armor does not impede his movement, and does not overtire him. It affords him near invulnerability from anything save vehicle mounted weaponry or artillery. And unlike armored vehicles like the Stryker, he is a much smaller and harder to hit target.

His opponents are armed, mostly, with AK 47s and the like. They can’t kill him with those. What does this remind you of? It reminds me most of all of Cortez and the Aztecs. Cortez’ soldiers in their steel helmets and back and breast armor were invulnerable to all the weapons the Aztecs had. The Aztecs couldn’t kill the Spaniards unless they caught them alone and overpowered them. And we all know what happened to the Aztecs.

US Troops are already vastly superior to most actual and potential opponents in terms of doctrine, training and weapons. The effect of this superiority is, typically, lopsided casualty rates, especially during “regular” phases of combat when all of America’s advantages in air support, mobility, intelligence and training come into play. Where our opponents gain back some ground is in static insurgency warfare where improvised munitions and house to house combat remove much of our high tech gimcrackery from the equation.

How different will urban combat operations be when a soldier can enter a hostile environment knowing that short of a freak accident, the chances of injury are remote? I think they will be very different indeed.

These technological developments promise real body armor. Body armor proof against almost any weapon an insurgent can get and carry. Even if liquid armor and ApNano breastplates don’t happen now, or next year, the research will lead to the real thing in the short term – five to ten years out at the outside. And when it does, and American troops get it, they will have an advantage more powerful than most of the rest of the panoply of modern equipment can provide – safety. It will also be an American advantage, because insurgents won’t have access to it.

In an era where casualty figures are a political weapon, this alone may be a boon beyond price.

[wik] Thanks to the greatUnknown over at Murdoconline for pointing out that it is "shear" and not "sheer." Every single news or popular science article got that wrong. But, if you go back and look at links to the technical abstracts, they all correctly describe the material as "shear-thickening."