The Situation:

Founded in 1952, General Dynamics is a United States defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures.  General Dynamics has four business segments; Aerospace, Combat Systems, Marine Systems and Information Systems and development.  The Aerospace segment designs and manufactures aircraft, the Combat Systems segment designs and develops combat systems for the United States Military and allies, the Marine Systems segment designs and manufactures ships for the United States Navy and other commercial customers and the Information Systems and Technology system provides expertise, hardware and software products, engineering management and support services.  Combined, these segments make up the fifth largest defense contractor in the world.  The Combat Systems segment was contracted by the United States Military to design and build the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), an advanced amphibious assault vehicle.  During the design of the vehicle, the turret basket (a part of the vehicle that that holds up to two marines and fires ammunition) needed a slip resistant surface where the marines rest their feet to avoid slipping from mud, water and other elements.

The Solution:

An engineer contacted SlipNOT® for a solution to the turret baskets within the assault vehicle.  The engineer needed an extremely lightweight material that would not add to the weight of the vehicle but would also provide slip resistance.  A SlipNOT® representative recommended aluminum perforated plate and sent various samples of the different materials available for evaluation.  The SlipNOT® representative recommended aluminum perforated plate not only because aluminum is the lightest material but also because perforated plate removes additional weight.  After reviewing the samples, the engineer decided that SlipNOT® aluminum perforated plate was ideal for this application.  SlipNOT® aluminum perforated plate was specified as a sole source for the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle and was utilized for over 2,000 vehicles.  The SlipNOT® aluminum perforated plate was cut to shape and bolted to the pre-existing basic metal floors of the vehicle.

The Impact:

SlipNOT® Metal Safety Flooring provided a superior non-slip solution for General Dynamics that presented marines with traction within the turret basket where they are required to turn and shoot.  During battle, traction and grip are critical for moving with precision.  The lightweight characteristics of SlipNOT® aluminum perforated plate exceeded the expectations of the application.