Kryron Terminator Aluminum Alloy Multi-Hit Ballistic Armor Plate Technology by Bourque Industries: Is Nanotech Body Armor and Vehicle Armor a Reality?

By David Crane
defrev (at) gmail (dot) com

July 17, 2011

Back in May (2011), Dan Power ran a couple of blurbs on Armor Report about Kryron Terminator aluminum alloy ballistic armor (body armor and vehicle armor), which was developed by Bourque Industries. Kryron reportedly recently “showed major improvement over earlier test results with the ability to deflect several 0.50 caliber armor piercing rounds with a lightweight armor plate designed for personal body armor. The positive results were achieved with weight savings over the present industry-standard personal protection armor plates,” according to a Beacon Equity Research story.

According to a company press release, a Kryron Terminator ballistic armor plate (hard armor plate) showed some impressive multi-hit capability when “a Terminator Fat Boy plate was shot multiple times with .50 caliber AP ammunition and .30 caliber AP ammunition, then reversed and shot with the same rounds again, with no penetration, ricochet, shatter or spall.” And, that’s not all. A Kryron Terminator Thin Line plate “sustained several dozen rounds of 9mm machine gun fire at exceptionally close range with no penetration, ricochet, shatter or spall.”

It’s DefenseReview’s understanding that Kryron utilizes a patented nanotechnology process that utilizes carbon nanotubes and some proprietary manufacturing technique to turn metal alloy, and specifically aluminum alloy, into a multi-hit ballistic armor that can pull double duty as an ultra-conductive and corrosion-resistant material for electrical wire and components.

Bourque Industries CEO, John Bourque (John M. Bourque), claims that Kryron is superior to conventional ceramic armor (hard armor plate). “People are dying from crappy body armor,” says Bourque, who’s trying to get Kryron NIJ certified. There are apparently a whole bunch of patents on Kryron. The first one came in August 2010, followed by another on in January 2011. Two more are currently inbound with more supposedly on the way.

That’s all well and good, but the nearly $2 billion ballistic armor market is ultra-competitive, and new kids usually have a pretty hard time of it. The U.S. Army was expected to purchase $6 billion worth of body armor and related products over 7 years, from 2009 through 2015. Bourque Industries will be going up against juggernauts like BAE Systems and Ceradyne, not to mention all the smaller but still better established (than Bourque) armor companies out there.

Bourque Industries claims they’ve already demonstrated proof-of-concept Kryon armor solutions for U.S. military helicopters and armored tactical ground vehicles.

Bourque plans to manufacture Kryron armor in Tucson, Arizona. “One thing about a bullet: It doesn’t lie. You either stop it or you don’t,” Bourque said. “And you only get one shot in this industry, so you better do it right.”

Mr. Bourque had better do it right, or Kryron is going nowhere. DefenseReview (DR) is curious whether or not Kryron can be used to make ballistic combat helmets like the Ops-Core FAST Ballistic Helmet. DR is also curious as to how much an NIJ Level IV 10×12 hard armor plate made from the Kryron metal alloy will weigh, how thick it will be, and how much it will cost. We’ll try to get answers to these questions, among others. We’ll also try to obtain some Kryron 10×12 plates to stick in our Hard Point Maniple-I Tactical Armor Carrier tactical vest and T&E (outside the vest).

Company Contact Info:

John Bourque, CEO
CJ Condon, Executive VP
Dr. Andreas Siegmund, Metallurgist Consultant
Bourque Industries and JBIT Inc.
3631 E. 44th St. Suite 145
Tucson, Az. 85713
Office: 520-624-5248
Fax: 520-624-0331
Email Contact Page: http://bourqueindustries.take2pro.net/#
Website 1: http://bourqueindustries.take2pro.net
Website 2: http://www.jbitusa.com

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