What is the difference between ballistic protection levels?
Nowadays, with a high rate of robberies and assaults on the road it is important to drive a high quality armored vehicle if your business is related to transportation of cash, precious metals or valuable equivalents. There are many armored vehicle manufacturers that offer integrated security solutions including vehicle’s reinforcement with ballistic materials and bulletproof glass as well as implementation of electronic solutions that provide advance defence features to the vehicle.
Being in the top of the armoring industry for more than 20 years, INKAS® provides innovative technologies and products along with unprecedented quality and durability. With the extensive knowledge and accumulated experience of the INKAS® skilled engineering team the company ensures to design and produce armored cash-in-transit vehicles that meet any need requested by the client.
Depending of the business nature and geo-location where the vehicle is deployed, INKAS® offers cash-in-transit vehicles with different ballistic protection levels that indicate to what extent a body armor can provide protection against bullets and different explosive devises. If you have any doubts regarding the protection level to match your requirements, a representative of the INKAS® sales team will gladly help you out to determine the needed protection level.
There are many international classifications of protection levels depending on the country where the vehicle will be operating. Most of the time INKAS® utilizes EN 1063 or CEN 1063 standards created by the European Committee for Standardization to evaluate and describe protective capacity of bullet-resistant materials. Sometimes you can see that a sign “+” is added to the ballistic level, which simply means that additional caliber, other than the one already mentioned, has been tried out on the armor material and successfully passed the test.
The chart below represents different protective classes depending on the type of weapon and caliber that is being used against the composites. It goes without saying that the higher is the level, the higher is protection provided. According to the tests, the body armor must prevent the penetration of the bullet with several strikes placed within 4.7’’ from each other.
Euronorm Standard For Security Glazing
| Class | Weapon | Caliber | Bullet Type | Weight (g) | Range (m) | Velocity (m/s) | Impact Energy | Shots |
| BR1 | Handgun/Rifle | .22 LR | Lead Bullet,
Round Nose |
2,6 ± 0,1 | 10,00 ± 0,5 | 360 ± 10 | 170 J | 3 |
| BR2 | Handgun | 9mm Luger | Full Metal Jacket, Round Nose, Soft Core (lead) | 8,0 ± 0,1 | 5,00 ± 0,5 | 400 ± 10 | 640 J | 3 |
| BR3 | Handgun | .357 Magnum | Full Metal Jacket, Cone Bullet, Soft Core (lead) | 10,2 ± 0,1 | 5,00 ± 0,5 | 430 ± 10 | 940 J | 3 |
| BR4 | Handgun | .44 Magnum | Full Metal Jacket, Flat Nose, Soft Core (lead) | 15,6 ± 0,1 | 5,00 ± 0,5 | 440 ± 10 | 1510 J | 3 |
| BR5 | Rifle | 5.56×45mm NATO | Full Metal Jacket, Pointed Bullet, Soft Core (lead) & Steel Penetrator | 4,0 ± 0,1 | 10,00 ± 0,5 | 950 ± 10 | 1800 J | 3 |
| BR6 | Rifle | 7.62×51mm NATO | Full Metal Jacket, Pointed Bullet,
Soft Core (lead). |
9,5 ± 0,1 | 10,00 ± 0,5 | 830 ± 10 | 3270 J | 3 |
| BR7 | Rifle | 7.62×51mm NATO | Full Metal Jacket, Pointed Bullet, Hard core, steel hardness > 63 | 9,8 ± 0,1 | 10,00 ± 0,5 | 820 ± 10 | 3290 J | 3 |