This System Sees Through Armor 

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One of the urging needs of ground forces is to improve the efficiency and survivability of the armored units, to increase the chances for successful mission accomplishment and safe return of the crew back home. A see-through armor situational awareness system consisting of a headset and cameras was demonstrated by the Ukrainian Army on one of its BTR-4E infantry fighting vehicles.

The Ukrainian Army has begun trials of Limpid Armor’s Land Platform Modernisation Kit (LPMK). During the demonstration at a military proving ground, the driver manning the BTR-4E IFV drove with the hatches closed, navigating simply with the help of Limpid Armor’s enhanced situational awareness system – LPMK through off-road terrain. 

The Land Platform Modernization Kit is an enhanced situation awareness system that consists of several cameras, sensors, a server and a military-grade helmet with Microsoft Hololens integrated into it. The cameras installed on the perimeter of an armored vehicle provide the video feed that is “stitched” on the go into a “see-through armor” 360° panoramic view with different important information being overlaid on the glasses, such as position on a map, speed, other telemetry data as well as friend or foe identification, according to armyrecognition.com.

Limpid Armor CEO Mykhailo Grechukhin told janes.com that the company has given the Ukrainian Army an initial set of its LPMKs, which consist of eight situational awareness cameras, a central server, and an augmented reality headset, to conduct initial tests. He added that any feedback from the Ukrainian Army would be used to refine the system before providing an additional five LPMKs for a full set of trials. The additional trials that will take place in 2020 with the kits will be tested on multiple vehicles simultaneously. 

In fact, the future development of the solution is being directed at achieving fully robotized armored vehicles that would be adapted to the challenges and requirements of the information era and modern warfare.