Defense

60% titanium, 40% Vanadium alloy titanium 1/8" thickness was used to fabricate the outer shell. The panels were designed to fit together in CAD and then templates were tacked onto the metal for cutting. An ordinary bandsaw was adapted to friction cut the titanium sheet to specs, and the shell was tack welded while bolted to the subframe to maintain the proper positioning. This alloy of titanium has an overall strength and resilience that is greater than most grades of steel while weighing considerably less. The armor is shock mounted with a 1/4" rubber buffer zone to the aluminum subframe for additional protection.

The front cowling is currently formed from welded steel and thermal formed polycarbonate (lexan). The lexan component provides resilient lightweight strength while its inherent transparency allows visibility of gauges and controls that would otherwise be extremely difficult to access.

Stainless steel hinge stock is bolted to the base to form an anti wedge skirt and further deflect any ground level weapons. The baseplate is fabricated from 1/4" thick 6061 aluminum stock.

Plans for the future include fabrication of a Kevlar/Carbon fiber composite front cowling to replace the steel area of the current cowling.