Continuing Innovation with SmartArmor Security Armor From IAG

International Armored Group continues to develop its security armor technology with SmartArmor.

One of the greatest challenges faced by manufacturers of armored vehicles and products, whether it be land, sea, or air based, is the welding and bending of High Strength Low Alloy (HSLA) steel, better known as ballistic steel.

Ballistic steel is prone to Hydrogen Induced Cracking (HIC) in the heated areas during the welding process. At the same time, ballistic steel is very difficult to bend, due to its high hardness. Without the right machines, ballistic steel has a tendency to shatter while being bent.

As one can imagine, this poses a problem when the vehicle has areas that are curved or irregularly shaped, such as the pillars, the firewall, the bonnet and the doors of a car. Most armored vehicle manufacturers are forced to make a compromise between using as many whole pieces as possible and making the steel fit the curvatures of the vehicle.

Often times, many small pieces of ballistic steel are stitched together to protect the areas around the pillars, firewall, and wheel arches, producing weak spots in the vehicle.

Ballistic Vehicle Armor

At International Armored Group, we have been able to overcome this problem and make no compromises to safety by using newly designed and patented SmartAmor Technology. Rather than using multiple pieces of ballistic steel for the sides of our armored vehicle, we have overcome the HIC problem by using a single whole piece of ballistic steel for each side of the vehicle.

The rest of the vehicle consists of no more than a few pieces of ballistic steel welded together. This is only made possible because our Research and Development team, led by Dr. Anton Stefov, has perfected the ability to bend ballistic steel so that it fits perfectly to the unique shape of our most popular vehicles.

Security Armor

We debuted our new and updated SmartArmor security armor technology last month in our Toyota Land Cruiser 76, 78, 79 and 200 series, and are proud to announce that this technology is also now available in our Toyota Hilux series and Chevrolet Suburban.