By Steve Long, slong@cbs4qc.com
Their goal is to protect U.S. soldiers: facing new dangers in modern warfare. Inside the Arsenal's testing range, they're assembling a new project. When it's finished, it will mean the difference between life and death on the battlefield.
At first glance, this high tech testing facility looks like a movie set. But this place is all too real...
Mechanical Engineer Craig Johnson has worked at the testing range for 29 years. He says, "We've tested weapons and ammunition here for years and years, but this is the first time we're going to be getting into testing armored plate."
They're modeling their test chamber after other sites that already do it. It's become a critical task, because today's war fighters face new threats.
"Roadside bombs and IED's became a major concern in late 2003 and early 2004 in Iraq," says David Blaylock, says Branch Chief David Blaylock. He knows because he was there, part of the initial invasion in 2003...serving 4 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We used to put sandbags on the floorboard of our 998's. We used to use old Flak vest jackets as line material to negate a potential hazard," Blaylock says.
And it's not just Humvees that armored plating protects. Blaylock says, "These materials can go in military vehicles. They can be for commercial use. They can go in aircraft. They can be body armor for soldiers, for the war fighters themselves."
It'll be a few months until they're up and running so they don't have any armor plates yet, but the goal is clear. "We're insuring that piece of material whether it be steel, aluminum or composite materials that the penetration is no more than 50%. It's a pass or fail test is all it is," Blaylock tells us.
One of the most important features of all is down at the end of this range chamber. It's 50 feet of sand, backed up by armored plating backed up by a concrete wall to stop any projectiles from getting through.
Test Technician Steve Owen describes what he's doing as they prepare to demonstrate their projectile firing system. "We're actually hooking up the Coax cable to actually remote fire this weapon system and then this is actually the firing pin. We're all set," he says.
There are some things they can already measure, like the speed of the bullets, traveling at over 3 thousand feet per second.
We watch safely from another room, a luxury soldiers don't have on the battlefield.
In a few months, when the project is all set up, they'll do testing for both the military and commercial customers.By the way, about half the employees working at the testing range are veterans themselves.
