Rheinmetall Defense Aug. 12 said it has won a series of awards totaling an estimated $13.2 million for its high-performance protection technology.
Fiber composite materials and ceramic armor plates will now contribute to protecting ship’s crews and security personnel from ballistic threats.
The contracts include partial armoring for ships for a foreign navy, fiber composite protection components for armored limousines, and ballistic vests for the British police that were delivered in time for the G8 summit in June.
Versatile Rheinmetall Armor, or VERHA, is a family of protection solutions designed for multiple uses, ranging from maritime applications to ground vehicles and ballistic vest components–such as the several thousand supplied in response to an urgent request from the United Kingdom.
Rheinmetall technology continues to be an integral part in the Mercedes Benz armored limousines business. The Group has just won a new order to supply VERHA Automotive fiber composite protection components for the new Mercedes-Benz S-class “Guard.” As far back as 1988, Mercedes began using protection components from the Verseidag company of Krefeld, forerunner of Rheinmetall Ballistic Protection GmbH. The German carmaker’s S-class armored limousines have been equipped with these products ever since.