Army adds armour

The US Army is to commercially produce unique steel armour based on technology developed and patented by the US Department of Energy (DOE).

Calling this initiative its "highest priority," the US Department of Defense (DoD) plans to purchase about 10 million pounds of P-900 cast steel armour for use as add-ons to military vehicles. DoD's US Army Tank and Automotive Command (TACOM) expects to receive the first 2.5 million pounds by the end of 2007 to produce the initial quantity of armour.

The army decided to commercialise the process following a series of successful ballistic tests it performed on the cast steel armour. National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) scientists had produced the castings for the armour using a new heat-treating process to optimise ballistic performance.

In late July, DoD had budgeted $200m in fiscal year 2007 funding for the army to procure the first set of castings. Each foundry producing the castings will have to be qualified for its ballistic and production schedule capabilities.