Reactive Structure and Smart Armor for Future Ground Vehicles

AReactive Structure Technology (RST) is a new class of smart structure that can react to external excitations (such as blast or ballistic impacts) in a carefully designed way using the energy pre-stored internally or from the external excitations to counteract the hazardous loading or perform other desired tasks. A reactive structure deflects an incoming projectile in order to protect a vehicle body. When a projectile hits the face plate (armor), the embedded sensors feed the impact signal to a control unit, and actuators are triggered to move the faceplate. The movement of the faceplate deflects the projectile and significantly reduces the possibility of penetration in the back plate.