Popular Mechanics (South Africa)
AK-47s are no match for these vehicles
The notion of driving around in bulletproof vehicles might seem like the stuff of popes, political dignitaries, and the movies. But think again – a proudly homegrown company is creating world-class armoured-vehicle solutions for anyone who is interested.
IT’S THE FURTHEST thing from a regular Thursday at work for me. I’m behind the wheel of a MAX 9 armoured personnel carrier (APC), taking it for a spin through the bush outside Pretoria. It’s by far the most formidable and toughest vehicle I’ve ever driven. It’s not only capable of overcoming extreme off-road obstacles, dongas and ditches with its 6.7-litre turbocharged diesel engine and colossal 380 mm of ground clearance, but it can also withstand high-velocity rifle fire and offers blast protection from mines or grenades to all eight of its occupants. Yes, invincible is how I’m feeling right now.
The MAX 9 has been designed and manufactured by SVI Engineering, or ‘Special Vehicle Innovation’, a local armouring company that has made a significant name for itself in the industry, not only locally but on the international scene as well. But this hulking personnel carrier is just one of the many projects SVI does. Most of their work involves armouring everyday vehicles, such as BMWs, Toyota Land Cruisers, Fortuners and Hilux bakkies, or pretty much any other car you’d like reinforced with ballistic protection. Applications vary – many vehicles are fortified for cash-in-transit or military purposes, while others are made for transporting high-profile people such as politicians, CEOs and celebrities. And then you get
private families, who are just seeking the security and peace of mind that comes with driving around in a vehicle that’s bulletproof.
‘We’ve seen a steady increase in the numbers of everyday people who want to add an extra element of protection to their cars,’ says Jaco de Kock, CEO of SVI. ‘They already have ABS and airbags, but living in South Africa unfortunately presents other challenges – we have to deal with a higher risk of crime than many other countries.’ And that’s where SVI’s work can be a mitigating factor, providing customers with a higher degree of control over the impact crime could have on their lives.
Some people might be reluctant, feeling as though they’re succumbing to paranoia.
Jaco and his team have another way of looking at it – driving around in a vehicle with elevated levels of armour protection is akin to asking for an optional extra when you buy a car. You’ve gone for the leather seats, the premium infotainment centre, the head-up display … if it’s within your means, why not opt for bulletproofing too?
SVI offers various grades of protection, the most common of which are BR4 (‘B4’) and BR6 (‘B6’). B4 can withstand bullets fired from handguns, while B6 – which,
unsurprisingly, is more complicated and expensive to fit to vehicles – is resistant to projectiles fired from assault rifles such as an AK-47. To demonstrate this, I got to fire two such weapons while cocooned safely inside SVI’s firing range on the company’s premises outside Pretoria. With my eyeand ear protection in place, and overseen by a firearm expert, I shot a few rounds at a distance of 10 m from a 9 mm pistol into the window of a car door fitted with B4-specification protection. The results were impressive: although shards of glass from the outer layers shattered and dispersed, the bullets themselves came nowhere near penetrating or even reaching the innermost layers. B4-spec glass is typically 18 to 24 mm thick, while body panels in these vehicles are reinforced with 5 to 7 mm-thick Kevlar blankets, which cost an eye-watering R30 000/m². Next up was an AK-47 rifle, which I fired at a B6-specification car door and window. It’s important to keep in mind here that a 7.62 mm round from an AK-47 leaves the barrel at approximately 800 m/s (or 2 880 km/h). That’s more than twice the speed of a projectile fired from a 9 mm pistol, which travels at around 1 100 km/h. B6 armoured glass is 38 mm thick, and special 5 mm thick armour plating is welded into the various body panels of the vehicle, essentially creating a safety cell for all occupants. The results of the rifle shots
were palm-sized spiderweb impressions in the outer layers of glass, with shards ejected into the sidewalls of the firing range. But this is exactly how the glass is supposed to respond, dissipating the energy of the bullets outwards. No sign of the impact was visible on the inside of the glass, in spite of firing several shots in close proximity to one another.
To achieve European specification levels of armour protection, the official test entails firing three test rounds into the medium in question from a distance of 10 m.
The impact locations must form a triangle with sides of 120 mm, while the bullet mass, type and muzzle velocity are clearly defined. And while SVI’s products meet these standards, the overall weight of their vehicles is always a primary consideration. ‘SVI is first and foremost an engineering company,’ says Jaco. ‘And as such, we strive to develop and produce armoured-vehicle solutions that are underpinned by innovative principles that reduce the weight while still enhancing protection. This, in turn, results in more lives saved.’
So if you assumed having your own car upgraded with bulletproofing isn’t achievable, SVI is here to prove that perception wrong. Sure, it’s a costly undertaking, but can you really put a price on never again having to worry about being hijacked at an intersection?