Hardwire LLC (Pocomoke City, Md., USA), a developer and supplier of advanced composite armor solutions, announced on Sept. 29 an expansion project that more than doubles its armor manufacturing capacity at the company’s main production facility in Pocomoke City. The expansion is Hardwire’s second large capacity increase in two years and is critical in order to meet the growing demand for its lightweight vehicle armor solutions.

Hardwire’s armor manufacturing facility will expand from its current nameplate 3 million-sq-ft/278,709-sq-m annualized capacity to more than 6 million sq-ft/557,418 sq-m in high-pressure composites lamination. The expansion is anchored by a custom state-of-the-art 12,000-ton high pressure composites laminating press capable of producing pressed armor plates, flat or curved, up to 50 sq-ft/4.6 sq-m each. The manufacturing facilities and associated CNC finishing work cells were also expanded to support this significant lamination capacity increase.

“With the increasing need and demand for the lightest weight armor, the fiber industry invested in significant capacity increases,” said Rob Cosgriff, Hardwire’s director of manufacturing. “We responded concurrently to expand the proprietary processes we developed to allow for unprecedented scale in transforming the raw materials into fielded products with no delay to our combat troops. This new press has been developed in a manner to allow complete redundancy with our existing press systems while allowing uninterrupted operation of the current press line. The full expansion capabilities are nearing completion.”

This additional manufacturing capacity gives Hardwire the ability to develop leading-edge composites armor solutions that meet specific customer requirements across a broader range of programs on a large scale, and with shorter lead times. This new facility is located adjacent to Hardwire’s original armor and composites development center. Hardwire’s armor development and manufacturing campus now also includes a third facility used to provide support for Hardwire’s armor production and its other security products.