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Reality-based armored vehicle solutions. Better technology means better protection – materials are chosen against the real threat, not the catalog.
Constant research
TRASCO is constantly researching and testing new armor materials – steel, composites, fibers and glass – to determine the best, lightest and most cost-effective solutions possible. Most of these tests are customer-related and therefore confidential.
To give you the necessary confidence in our armored vehicles, one thing is mandatory: we work exclusively with certified suppliers, using only materials that are fully certified and have passed the required ballistic tests for their protection level.
The real threat today
Know the threat
Any handmade bomb or explosive ordnance used outside its original design intent – usually small devices hidden at the roadside or in cars. The primary threat is the shrapnel: steel fragments spraying in all directions at velocities many times faster than high-power rifle bullets.
FSPs represent sharp-edged pieces of steel bomb casings that impact with very high energy – much higher than assault-rifle bullets.
BZ-API = armor-piercing incendiary composition: a hardened steel core with a pyrotechnic charge that ignites on impact – widespread and readily available in conflict regions.
Ballistic & blast facts
It is not possible to rank test protocols with different threats as simply “higher” or “lower” protection – every threat is unique for each armor material. Take common assault-rifle ammunition:
The answer: develop a test protocol that represents the current threat – and then design armor materials and a completely integrated vehicle to meet that protocol.
Our response
Full armoring
In a fully armored vehicle, the armor encloses the entire passenger compartment. The exact scope and the materials depend on the protection level and are defined for each vehicle. The A-KIP® concept, by contrast, deliberately protects only the critical areas.
The windshield and the door windows are replaced with multi-layer ballistic glass. A polycarbonate layer on the inside keeps glass splinters away from the occupants, and the front windows can still be lowered partially.
Doors, pillars, roof rails, headers, roof and the rear area around the passenger compartment are armored with high-hardness ballistic steel or fiber composites.
At the edges of doors and windows, the armor parts overlap, so that the gaps between doors, body and glass are closed as well.
Depending on the protection level, floor armor made of high-strength steel or fiber composites protects the passenger compartment against hand grenades detonating beneath the vehicle.