Kinetic Defense

Kinetic Defense delivers ballistic protection systems to defend light aircraft from small arms threats. Our engineers work with our clients to design custom armor installations that fit perfectly with the mission and the mission equipment. Kinetic Defense can offer panel laminates that are optimized for minimum weight, or we can work with you to find the sweet spot that balances weight, performance, and cost.

Our Services

Kinetic Defense offers a full range of ballistic protection services for aircraft. All our work is conducted to aerospace standards, with documented work instructions, materials traceability, and comprehensive final inspections before the product is delivered to our clients.

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Ballistic Protection System Development

Kinetic Defense will work with your engineers and program management staff to optimize a ballistic protection system for your special mission application. We have experience and design data ranging from soft blanket systems to ceramic-faced rigid panels designed to defeat armor piercing threats. Ballistic materials are constantly improving, and we are happy to provide proposals for minimum weight systems, minimum cost systems, and the possibilities in between.

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Installation Support

Kinetic Defense will dispatch a team (often including the company President) to work with your technicians on the first few armor installations. This ensures that your team becomes knowledgeable on the installation details, and it also ensures that if modifications are needed to accommodate an unanticipated equipment installation, Kinetic Defense can provide the fastest possible resolution.

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Ballistic Qualification

Kinetic Defense writes test plans, arranges testing, and delivers qualification test reports to a variety of standards, including NIJ 0108-01, MIL-STD-662, and VPAM probability analysis. All qualification testing is performed at independent third-party ballistics test labs, frequently with customer and military engineering oversight.

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Design to Aircraft Installation

Every special mission aircraft is, well, special! Unique mission equipment, avionics, and related systems must be accommodated in the ballistic protection system design. Kinetic Defense will dispatch a team to your facility with a FARO laser scanner, to survey the aircraft and generate the design data that’s needed to ensure a good armor system fit that protects the required areas with no interferences.

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Airworthiness Qualification

Kinetic Defense will back up your special mission system design with the needed analysis, testing, and reports for either FAA or military airworthiness approval. We routinely provide structural analysis reports to appropriate FAA regulations or to the loads specified in MIL-STD-1290. We generate test plans, arrange testing, and deliver test reports for environmental exposure testing to MIL-STD-810. Kinetic Defense panels have been successfully tested to MIL-STD-810 standards for sunlight, rain, humidity, blowing dust and sand, fuel, oil, and cleaning fluids exposures, salt fog, fungus, shock, vibration, and temperature extremes.

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Manufacturing and Production

Kinetic Defense will efficiently produce and deliver single armor kits or dozens of armor kits. We have the supply chain, facility space and manpower to run with your needed completion rate. All production is conducted under our AS9100 certified Quality System.

Our Products

Kinetic Defense is an OEM supplier to MD Helicopters for the armor used on the MD530Fs purchased by the Army for the Afghan forces. We have also supplied armor to Sikorsky. Both OEM relationships involved substantial testing and qualification for ballistic properties and for resistance to environmental exposures.

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Rigid Armor Panels Meeting NIJ Level III and above

Kinetic Defense’s main product is rigid ballistic panels for special missing aircraft. We provide panel systems that can meet the NIJ level III requirements and also defeat the 7.62x39mm steel core round at no additional cost or weight. To defeat armor-piercing threats, we can design ceramic-faced panels to optimize for weight, cost, or a combination of the two.

Flexible Armor Meeting NIJ Level III-A

Kinetic Defense designs and produces ballistic resistant flexible blanket systems for applications requiring the defeat of heavy handgun rounds. In this threat level, flexible blankets can be competitive with rigid panels, and sometimes offer easier installations.

Projects

Here are some of our more significant projects:

Air Tractor AT-802 Drug Eradication Airplanes:

In 2002, Air Tractor began work on drug eradication airplanes for the Department of State Air Wing, to support Plan Columbia and reduce coca cultivation. Kinetic Defense soon became involved, producing armor panels for these airplanes. This grew into a wider relationship with the Department of State, and Kinetic Defense ultimately armored over 100 airplanes and helicopters for the Air Wing.

Iraqi and Afghan Forces:

As the United States sought to stand up new armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army contracted for both Huey and Russian Mi-17 utility helicopters to support that effort. Kinetic Defense provided rigid floor panel armor for the Hueys, and ballistic blanket systems for the Mi-17s. Both projects required Army AED airworthiness qualification testing and approvals, and were produced on time and on cost.

Bell 412s:

Kinetic Defense has provided armor for a number of special mission aircraft used around the world, including this Bell 412 project where we were asked to armor the floor and to create ballistic protection surrounds for the pilot and co-pilot seats. Because the seats were FAA-approved crashworthy stroking seats, it was necessary to make the armor surrounds completely independent of the seats so that the armor would not affect the dynamic seat response. We also incorporated sliding panels inspired by the original Huey armored seats.