CHESTER, Va., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- A service-disabled and veteran-owned Virginia company has been chosen by DARPA for participation in its program to develop light-weight vehicle armor.
Kairos Partners Inc. said its proposed solution in the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's "Armor Challenge for Vehicles" uses cutting edge technologies that combine metal matrix composites and three-dimensionally woven fiber composites into an effective passive armor that can be produced in any shape or thickness.
The new lightweight material can be produced in high-volume production, offering cost-effective protection for current vehicles, as well as for future land, air, sea and space platforms.
"DARPA has given us a chance to prove our technology and truly presents us with opportunity," said Don Akers, president and chief executive officer of Kairos Partners. "The Kairos solution is unique, based upon years of development, and involves many great partners' collaboration."
The DARPA challenge seeks to identify revolutionary and promising new armor concepts for military vehicles to defeat two main threats: specified armor piercing rounds and fragment simulating projectiles.
The competition is primarily designed for inventors and small organizations that have limited resources to initiate full-scale armor development programs.
