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Non-Tech : US Global Nanospace (USGA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scion who wrote (126)	2/28/2004 4:35:38 PM
From: scion	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132

COMPOSITE PLATE The evaluator's comment regarding "body armor" referred to another series of challenges conducted at this year's Shoot-out. Carson City, Nev.-based U.S. Global Nanospace Inc. (USGN), which produces composite body armor, blast shields and airline cockpit doors, recently completed work on a prototype protective ring for Humvee gunners. The "Save-A-Gunner" (S.A.G.) turret, which weighs less than 200 pounds, is made principally of the company's proprietary G-Lam nanofiber. Originally designed to protect gunners against 7.62-caliber rounds, the latest S.A.G. prototype is capable of protecting a gunner against .50-caliber rounds, according to company officials; that was enough to net it an invitation to showcase the new system at Blackwater. The original plan was to shoot the ring with various ammo types but, considering the cost of fabricating the device, company officials wisely decided to offer up 12-inch plates of the material for the evaluation. The 1.25-inch-thick plates are formed from a G-Lam/ceramic composite. With the plates propped up in front of a target stand, a CheyTac marksman loosed a .408 round (419 grains/2,950 fps) from a distance of about 50 yards. The round punched through the plate. The LeMas team then decided to see what its .300 WinMag HAARP round (130 grains/3,700 fps) could do: It, too, tore through the plate. It's a distinct understatement to say that the representatives from Global Nanospace were surprised by the effects of the CheyTac .408 and the RBCD .300 WinMag on their plates. But most observers realized that the terminal effects of both these rounds are different from those produced by NATO-standard .50-caliber ball ammo. Acknowledging that fact, we later rounded up some .50-caliber ammo and put it through an FNH Hecate II from 100 yards away. To the relief of the Global Nanospace folks, their heavier (1.4-inch-thick) panel withstood the impact of all three rounds. The USGN team also invited observers to take a crack at piercing the company's Guardian Cockpit Security Door. A shooter from FNH took them up on the offer. Using a P90 subgun, the shooter peppered the door from about 15 feet with about 20 rounds of closely packed 5.7-by-28mm ammo (55.5 grains/2,346 fps). The door held. One evaluator quickly followed up with the Global Nanospace representatives and put them in touch with officials involved in the "up-armored" Humvee program. The evaluator also asked the ADS team if defrosting elements could be embedded in its bullet-resistant glass. It wouldn't be at all surprising to see an up-armored Humvee test rig sporting new windows and a protective ring for its gunner. In addition to their current line of bullet-resistant products, the folks at Global Nanospace are experimenting with composite liners for mailboxes, waste receptacles and other containers that might be used by terrorists as repositories for bombs. They brought with them a pair of standard-size mailboxes - the kind seen on street corners throughout America. One was outfitted with a protective blast liner; the other wasn't. The idea was to detonate an explosive charge in each box to demonstrate their product's blast-resistance properties. This one certainly didn't go as they expected (see related story on page 42). militarycity.com