I remember the first time I was confronted with a question on the language I call “Ballistic Klingon”. It was while attending a meeting with the President and Owner of an armoring company in South America to talk about an upcoming project. As always we were trying to define the protection parameters for the vehicles when I asked a simple question, what standard do we need to meet with our product? The President and Owner of this company, which has over 20 years in the industry, said we want to meet NIJ0108.01, Level IIIA. So in order to confirm his statement I responded to his statement saying, are we talking about .44Mag and 9mm ammunition? Which he proceeded to correct stating “no, is only for 9mm”. It took quite a while to clarify the situation, and at the end it boiled down to one single fact, in his country you can’t find .44Mag ammunition for purchase or import such ammunition unless is for military use.

That is when I realized that defining the specific threat with our customers goes beyond international ballistic standards and requires a clear definition of what specific ammunition do we have to protect our customers from. Even when we talk ammunition we need to define the specific characteristics of the round. When talking about specific ammunition like the 7.62×39 commonly utilized with the AK-47, the most common weapon found around the world, we encounter multiple variants. Commercially available 7.62×39mm ammunition is available in Full Metal Jacket (FMJ), Soft Points (SP) and Hollow Points (HP). In addition they can also be found in a Mild Steel Core offering or hardened penetrating core.

In summary, when I travel and visit customers, I carry my “Ballistic Klingon” dictionary to make sure I can reach a clear understanding about the threat we are confronting in each specific case. Once we have determined the specific ammunition, we test our ballistic materials under the specific international standard as required by the customer or country. Every single material that we offer is tested and certified by an independent ballistic laboratory. Without such a specific definition we can only try to understand “Ballistic Klingon” to the detriment of a full understanding of the threat.

ARMAT delivers nearly 20 years of armoring knowledge to our valued customers. This knowledge comes from the combination of our world-class technical team and founders experience in combat operations.