Combat diesel locomotives decided to be armored with polyethylene

This armor is reliable and easy to use.

An original method for protecting diesel locomotives of special trains of railway troops was developed by specialists from the Military Academy of Logistics named after Army General A.V. Khruleva. Recently they received a patent for a method of armoring them using panels made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene.

A study conducted by military scientists showed that most of the booking methods currently in use are either not very convenient, or cumbersome, or both.

For example, armor plates weigh a lot, which, firstly, makes the diesel locomotive very heavy, and secondly, the large weight does not allow such protection to be quickly mounted or dismantled. There is an option for armoring using sheets of microporous aluminum; such protection is installed on a special frame. This option does not have the disadvantages of the previous one, but it has its own – a frame that must be pre-mounted and secured to the diesel locomotive.

With polyethylene it is much simpler: it is much lighter and easier to install. The inventors propose sheathing them with slabs of this material and fastening them with tie-down belts made of the same ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. The material is quite capable of protecting the locomotive from bullets and shrapnel. Another advantage is that damaging elements will not ricochet from it, as, for example, from conventional armor.