On the verge of delivering its first 60 armored GOLAN vehicles to the U.S. Marine Corps, Protected Vehicles Inc. of North Charleston has announced these vehicles will be the first to roll out of its facility sporting two advanced shielding capacities.

The first, developed jointly with the Rafael Armament Development Authority, is specifically designed to guard against a growing threat in both Iraq and Afghanistan, explosively formed penetrators.

The U.S. Department of Defense considers EFPs the most lethal type of improvised explosive devices confronting coalition forces in the field, and also the most difficult to stop.

The Defense Department has stated that up to 70% of the casualties in both theaters are caused by these devices.

The basis of the second technology, ShieldAll, has been used previously to diminish more traditional ballistic threats, but has recently been “optimized” to protect against EFPs as well, said Protected Vehicles President Drew Felty.

“Our GOLAN MRAP vehicle already stops many EFP threats, and we believe these significant advances will greatly enhance our vehicle’s ability to protect the warfighter,” he said.

More than a year of testing went into the optimization of ShieldAll. While PVI sponsored many of the tests performed at U.S. government facilities, U.S. Army and Navy scientists choreographed and recorded the test results.

“The result is an EFP solution that offers better protection, but protection that is also a lighter and less bulky application than others that have been proposed,” Felty said.

PVI is scheduled to deliver 60 of its GOLAN vehicles to the Marine Corps by the end of August. The company is prepared to build another 2,000 over the next 12 months, Felty said.

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