APTx - Advanced Protection Technology
Advanced Protection Technology has specific responsibility within the Alchemie Technology Group for engineering protective systems from Alchemie Technology’s ultra-high strength materials. Alchemie Technology’s proprietary armour materials are used for helicopter structural armouring on the world’s latest attack helicopters and jet fighters as well as in the International Space Station. APTx is the only company in the physical protection industry that can draw on a range of proprietary composite technologies with the full suite of engineering services to produce the lightest, strongest, and safest enhanced protection systems in the world ensuring outstanding operational performance, reliability and minimal through life cost. Alchemie Technology’s ultra-high strength transparent and opaque composite armour components, combined with state of the art engineering, to create protective solutions protect people and equipment from the full array of 21st Century threats: bullets, fragments, missiles, knives, needles, shock waves, blast, electro optic, electromagnetic, nuclear, abrasion, thermal, sound, NBC, etc. These state of the art protective systems fall within the following operational areas;
APTx – Aerospace Systems – Spaceships, Helicopters, Fighter Aircraft, Passenger Aircraft, Airships, Rockets
Payload is a premium in the aerospace industry with revenue/distance*mass*life calculations valuing the lightest solutions. Alchemie Technology’s materials are used in the International Space Station and launch vehicles as well as in a wide range of other aircraft and rockets as our materials enable the lightest protective solutions in the world to be produced.
ADVANCED PROTECTIVE SOLUTIONS INCLUDE:
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COCKPIT WINDSHIELDS. VITAL COMPONENT ARMOUR, STRUCTURAL OPAQUE ARMOUR, ACTIVE ANTI-MISSILE SYSTEM, DECOYS, ELECTROPTICAL AND ELCTROMAGNETIC RESISTANCE.
APTx – Infrastructural Systems – Embassies, Banks, Corporate HQs, Refineries, Oil Platforms, Key Points, Houses
Static targets
face a wide range of threats and therefore the most comprehensive multi-threat resistant protective systems need to be engineered into the buildings structure as well as applied to its immediate surroundings. Due to the size of the potential targets the quantity of protective materials requires minimum cost and weight solutions.
ADVANCED PROTECTIVE SOLUTIONS INCLUDE: MODULAR BUILDINGS, BLAST AND FRAGMENTATION, ROCKET, PHYSICAL ACCESS, BULLET, MORTAR AND ARTILERY SHELLS, NBC AIR & WATER AND RESISTANCE.
APTx – Human Systems – Peacekeeping, Fire Service, Police, Private Security, Military, Industrial, Motor sports
Recent dramatic increase in use of “enhanced” penetration ammunition has resulted result in increased mass of materials needed to stop these bullets. Operations in areas without rapid access to medical facilities result in larger surface areas needing protecting, stronger materials are required to be used to minimise the effect of the increased mass on the user. Regardless of the type of protection required Aptx Human Systems garments and equipment provide you with more operational flexibility and comfort.
ADVANCED PROTECTIVE SOLUTIONS INCLUDE:
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VESTS AND SUITS, BIOLOGICAL, BLAST, BULLET, CHEMICAL, ELECTRICAL, FIRE, FRAGMENT, GRAVITY, IMPACT, RADIATION, STAB, SHOCK, AND THERMAL RESISTANCE.
APTx – Marine Systems – Patrol Craft, Petrochemical Tankers & Rigs, Ferries, Freighters, Military Vessels
Stability and payload are key factors in the selection of materials due to the effect of raising the centre of gravity of the vessel by applying protective materials. The decrease in payload and seaworthiness are critical issues in the selection of protective solutions and demand an integrated engineering approach to maximise the vessels operational efficiency.
PROTECTIVE SOLUTIONS INCLUDE:
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PATROL & LOGISTICS CRAFT, WINDSHIELDS, VITAL OPAQUE ARMOUR, ACTIVE ANTI-MISSILE SYSTEM, DECOYS,. BLAST AND FRAGMENTATION, PHYSICAL ACCESS, BULLET, MORTAR AND ARTILERY SHELLS, NBC AIR & WATER AND RESISTANCE.
APTx – Vehicle Systems – Heads of State Landaulets, Executive Protection, Peacekeeping
Vehicles produced for the civilian market have very small payloads and when used in policing/peacekeeping roles are normally operated at the outer envelope of their design limitations. A ground up approach is taken in the protection in all vehicles to ensure the maximum safety of the occupants is ensured from both a mechanical as well as protective solutions perspective. In commercial and defence vehicles the revenue/distance*mass*life formula favours Aptx – Vehicle Systems solutions.
PROTECTIVE SOLUTIONS INCLUDE:
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VIP, LOGISTICS & SECURITY VEHICLES, ADD-ON ARMOUR KITS, OPAQUE ARMOUR, ACTIVE ANTI-MISSILE SYSTEM, DECOYS, BLAST AND FRAGMENTATION, PHYSICAL ACCESS, BULLET, NBC AIR & WATER. ELECTROPTICAL AND ELCTROMAGNETIC AND RESISTANCE.
APTx utilises four ultra-high strength materials supplied by the Alchemie Technology Group. These materials include:
AuTx-HT – Advanced Aramid technology is 40% stronger under dynamic loads than aramid (Kevlar/Twaron) and 3 times more thermally stable than HMW polyethylene (Dyneema/Spectra). AuTx-HT is used in soft bullet, fragment & stab protection, in opaque armour composites as a backing material with ceramic facings. AuTx-FR is used in thermally protection.
CcTx – Ceramic Composite for hard armour facing. CcTx has 300% greater fracture resistance, and 10 times the strength of other armour ceramics making it 50% more efficient at defeating high energy ballistic threats including ultra-high speed hot jets from anti-tank missiles.
McTx – Metallic Composite is used in structural armour applications where metallic composites are used to combine high hardness facing layers and high strength backing layers. McTx has up to 10 times the stiffness of steel sheet and is up to 30% lighter in armour applications.
SiTx - Transparent Composite for armoured windows. SiTx transparent composites are harder and stronger than current borosilicate/polycarbonate and float glass/polycarbonate transparent armour. SiTx is lighter than other transparent armour materials in protecting against hard cored ammunition and because it does not use polycarbonate it does not scratch or delaminate.
These materials represent the best materials in the world in their class, making the protective systems using these materials the strongest, safest, best performing protective systems in the world. Depending on the performance required and the budget available protective solutions can vary from 100% to 1% of the above materials with composite solutions being made using lesser performance/price materials.
Protective Solution Engineering
This involves using a four part engineering process;
Optimising the protective materials to protect from specific threats.
Design of protective materials into the aircraft, building, boat, person or vehicle.
Testing of protective system against threats to physically check that the protective solutions work.
Certification – Proven Under Fire in an independent test centre.
The 21st Century Ballistic Threat
In 2000 the US DOD effectively banned the use of soft, lead cored ammunition on environmental grounds that is now being phased out by NATO and the rest of the world due to lead pollution in training facilities.
Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s military forces worldwide adopted enhanced penetration, hardened steel core rounds to penetrate steel and composite body armour. Sniper units worldwide adopted tungsten carbide ceramic armour piercing ammunition designed to penetrate “light” in service composite personal and vehicle armour.
Militias, organised criminal and terrorist organisations also have access to enhanced penetration “hard core” general service ammunition and ceramic cored ammunition as well as a diverse range of weapons from which to fire them in an attack.
In addition to the ready availability of “armour piercing” bullets, other forms of attack involve the use of gas, grenades, on and off route mines and light anti-tank weapons including rocket propelled grenades (RPG’s).
More sophisticated methods of attack include electro-optical threats such as lasers and remote electronic takeover of the vehicle control units, which can bring the vehicle to a standstill or worse.
Mass produced passenger vehicles cannot safely carry the weight of conventional laminated armoured glass and armoured steel required to stop these bullets and other threats. The majority of armoured vehicles sold today are still designed to stop “soft-core” lead and steel bullets and are unlikely to stop “hard core”, enhanced penetration and armour piercing bullets.
Since 2000 APTx has pioneered the application of ultra high strength materials in structural and appliqué composite armour in order to maximise the operational capabilities of the protected unit.
International Health & Safety Legislation on our Side
EU, US, UN & UK based Individuals, Corporations, Governmental Departments, NGOs and the Ministry of Defence, like their contractors, have a duty of care to their employees and contractors and are subject to the respective regulations & laws regarding Health & Safety at Work, without exemption in their country of domicile as well as operation. All Defence Standards either directly or indirectly invoke the use of processes and procedures that could be injurious to health if adequate precautions are not taken. Defence Standards or their use in no way absolve users from complying with statutory and legal requirements relating to Health & Safety at Work. The basis for complying with these statutory and legal requirements is to ensure that employees are adequately trained and their protective equipment is fit for purpose. APTx can only recommend what general threats and operational risks clients in the middle east and their contractors & employees face and the risk analysis contain herein is only a guide. As a matter of corporate governance APTx will not sell armour into a region with protection level that they believe is not adequate for the specified purpose/use.
APTx provides a fully comprehensive and integrated protection service to aircraft, building, personnel, vehicle and vessels, serving government, corporate and individual clients, which includes all the mandatory steps in producing a high quality enhanced security solution; from the initial assessment, through to design, engineering, component production, structural modification, assembly, finish, certification, warrantee and in service support. Lightweight composites considerably decrease cost of ownership over a systems life, whilst maximising operational effectiveness.