Army research : Survivability

Survivability

ARL's program in survivability couples innovative materials and protection technologies to enable a lightweight and survivable force. This program actively supports the National Counter Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Initiative, the Mine Resistant Ambush Protective (MRAP) Program, the Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Long-Term Armoring Strategy, the Future Combat Systems Program and Future Force combat and tactical platforms. Major facets of the Survivability Research Program include vehicle ballistic and landmine protection, kinetic-energy active protection, individual warfighter protection, and materials and manufacturing science.

Vehicle Ballistic and Landmine Protection

This research is aimed at developing and optimizing advanced armor, blast protection, ballistic shock mitigation, and crew protection technologies to enable the survivability of combat and tactical vehicles against the full range of ballistic and explosive weapon threats.

Kinetic-Energy Active Protection

Active protection research is aimed at developing revolutionary vehicle protection systems capable of defeating or neutralizing anti-armor threats outside the "skin" of the vehicle. ARL is focused on developing and integrating technologies to enable a vehicle-based system capable of tracking a kinetic-energy penetrator threat and then defeating or deflecting that threat with an explosive countermunition launched from the vehicle.

Individual Warfighter Protection

This research is aimed at developing advanced armor materials and anti-personnel defeat mechanisms to enable their integration into current and future personnel protection systems. A primary supporting effort is continuum mechanics research to improve the understanding of soft-tissue impact physics.

Materials and Manufacturing Science

This effort applies state-of-the-art materials, structures and processing technologies to vehicle-protection platforms, personnel protection systems, and combat-support equipment in order to achieve enhanced performance, durability, weight reduction, and affordability.

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