Stop Bullets with Pellets! SAAB Barracuda Now Available in UK as Bullet Katcher

Miles
by Miles

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.

Miles
Miles

Infantry Marine, based in the Midwest. Specifically interested in small arms history, development, and usage within the MENA region and Central Asia. To that end, I run Silah Report, a website dedicated to analyzing small arms history and news out of MENA and Central Asia.Please feel free to get in touch with me about something I can add to a post, an error I've made, or if you just want to talk guns. I can be reached at miles@tfb.tv

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  • Logan sqr Logan sqr on Nov 21, 2017

    Yeah, that's the British system - hide in the toilet. Or, behind the ceramic balls if you're lucky enough to have some. I prefer the American system - shoot back.

    OK, I know shooting back isn't always possible, especially against bombs, so I guess it can't hurt to to use ceramics, sand, gravel, rubber granules, or conventional steel armour. The important thing is to get something in those walls, and soon.

  • Jcobbers Jcobbers on Nov 22, 2017

    Cool idea, now people can hid behind someone's bullet-proof balls; or you can say "my wall's have more balls than you AND they can take a bullet." Plus less conspicuous than fortifying with HESCO barriers. Question is if the outer wall material is self healing, would there be any difference if the fill medium was either gravel or sand, as it wouldn't leak out like a heavily compromised sand bad fortification does after taking a large amount of fire.

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