A company in the United Kingdom is importing SAAB’s Barracuda system, renaming it the Bullet Katcher. The idea is to use pellets stacked in rigid containers that could be fitted within commercial walls and dividers. These pellets would then absorb the impact of either concussions, shrapnel, or small arms fire. After a sustained attack the wall would of course fail due to the severity of the munitions used. However this should buy the occupants inside the room time to escape and evade an attacker, or simply to take better cover. The point isn’t to make a fortress out of existing spaces, instead it is to give innocent occupants a precious window of time that they wouldn’t have otherwise in a non-protected space. Armoring up entire commercial districts in Europe with Level III steel or ceramic plating probably isn’t the most cost effective way to making occupants safe within, especially if the weight of the plating can lead to complications.

From the description-

The world is now in turmoil and in a constant state of alert as shootings become a daily occurrence. The “soft targets” chosen are places where people love to congregate which cannot be made into fortresses; therefore any form of protection has to blend in to maintain the ambiance.

Bullet Katcher is a patented protective panel system that uses a “fill” of pellets. Bullet Katcher, which uses ceramic ball technology, captures the bullet by dispersing the kinetic energy as the balls knock together, bending the bullet or shrapnel to stop its trajectory.  There is no ricochet, the balls self-repair under gravity and the Bullet Katcher panels can be built into existing furniture and features.

Photographs from the companies website-

This looked especially neat as a mobile version for VIPs where a threat is imminent and the protection detail is perhaps in an area without any cover. The question is how heavy is it, and how effective against blasts and rifle rounds with it being this thin.

Scandef will be displaying the technology at the end of the month during the UK Security Expo. We previously reported on the SAAB product on TFB earlier in 2014.