Charlie Exton selects blast resistant shirt for Marathon
April 19, 2018 - United Kingdom
Charlie Exton, a defence specialist at Porcher Industries, has selected t-shirt and socks made with the newly developed, next generation blast resistant fabric for London Marathon. Porcher Industries is a major actor in high performance technical textiles and composites, for aeronautics and defence, automotive, construction, sports, and leisure.
In response to the long term demand and requests of soldier’s agencies including the UK MoD DSTL and the USA DoD PEO, the new para-aramid based fabric by Porcher Industries’ aerospace and defence business unit has been developed to provide soldiers with an extra level of protection against improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in garments worn next to the skin.
Para-aramid based protective fabrics are also often considerably lighter and thinner than their equivalents made of more traditional materials, such as metallic fibres or densely-woven cloth.
Exton said, “Our newly developed material has undergone a full range of both bullet and fragmentation tests and is proven to protect against fragments which are propelled at lower speeds. Because it’s so light it takes out the dust, glass and small stones that can be blown at people and penetrate regular fabrics when an IED goes off. In an emergency situation, the medics can find the larger metal pieces easily enough, but when it comes to hundreds of stone and dirt fragments it becomes difficult, so it’s preferable to be equipped against them. It’s an issue the military is currently looking at around the world, in moving to the next step in personal protection for soldiers.”
Charlie will be competing as part of Hereford Athletic Club’s British Championship team, after which he plans to further trial the next generation para-aramid protective garments in a gruelling 100 kilometres Ultra Marathon later this year. Thermal data will also be collected at points along Charlie’s route, for further analysis of the effectiveness of the fabrics. (GK)
In response to the long term demand and requests of soldier’s agencies including the UK MoD DSTL and the USA DoD PEO, the new para-aramid based fabric by Porcher Industries’ aerospace and defence business unit has been developed to provide soldiers with an extra level of protection against improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in garments worn next to the skin.
Para-aramid based protective fabrics are also often considerably lighter and thinner than their equivalents made of more traditional materials, such as metallic fibres or densely-woven cloth.
Exton said, “Our newly developed material has undergone a full range of both bullet and fragmentation tests and is proven to protect against fragments which are propelled at lower speeds. Because it’s so light it takes out the dust, glass and small stones that can be blown at people and penetrate regular fabrics when an IED goes off. In an emergency situation, the medics can find the larger metal pieces easily enough, but when it comes to hundreds of stone and dirt fragments it becomes difficult, so it’s preferable to be equipped against them. It’s an issue the military is currently looking at around the world, in moving to the next step in personal protection for soldiers.”
Charlie will be competing as part of Hereford Athletic Club’s British Championship team, after which he plans to further trial the next generation para-aramid protective garments in a gruelling 100 kilometres Ultra Marathon later this year. Thermal data will also be collected at points along Charlie’s route, for further analysis of the effectiveness of the fabrics. (GK)