Novel Damage Tolerant Transparent Materials for Aircraft Windows

Aircraft windows are subjected to very severe environments (abrasion, erosion, chemical / ballistic attack) that when taken collectively place high demands on the operational requirements of the material systems utilized. Current windows do not adequately address all of these requirements and performance tradeoffs are necessary. This has lead to high replacement costs and overall undesirable performance. Several novel material systems are proposed which offer SOCOM the opportunity to dramatcially improve environmental, damage/ballistic tolerance, serviceability and night vision compatibility attributes.