Alpine Armoring® Featured in MotorTrend

What it Takes to Make an Armored Car

Virginia’s Alpine Armoring offers us a glimpse under the plating.

Manufacturer - Photographer; Christian Seabaugh - Writer | Feb 15, 2021

Armored cars have come a long way since Colonel T.E. Lawrence's fleet of Rolls-Royce Ghosts prowled the Arabian peninsula during World War I. These ironclad beasts have gone from machines of war to rolling defense vehicles for everyone from politicians and the well-heeled to mafioso and oligarchs. And business is booming. With armored car sales up over the past few years (especially here and in Western Europe), automakers including Audi, BMW, Land Rover, and Mercedes-Benz have joined with small, specialized manufacturers to offer a wide variety of bulletproof and even mine-resistant cars, trucks, and SUVs.

So what does it take to build a world-class armored car? We caught up with the folks at Alpine Armoring to find out.

Headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C., Alpine started building armored vehicles in 1997 to meet ever-increasing U.S. government and overseas demand as the post-Cold War world heated up during the Kosovo conflict. As Cameron Khoroushi, Alpine's director of design engineering, put it, the company was able to quickly meet that demand. It now armors everything from Toyota Camrys to Mercedes-AMG G63s all the way up to NATO's most stringent armoring standards.

When it comes to meeting the needs of its worldwide customer base, Alpine usually confronts a dueling chicken and egg scenario at the start of a vehicle armoring process: Do you want the highest possible levels of armor, or do you want your choice of any vehicle on the market? "We can really armor anything," Khoroushi said, "but a lot of it comes down to cost and feasibility for the client, as well as practicality, too." For example, one _could_ armor something like a Tesla Model S or a Toyota Prius to stop massive .50-caliber machine gun rounds, but it'll likely end up being underpowered and overweight—never a good thing when it comes to armored vehicles. (Just ask the average service member how much they like driving sluggish armored-up Humvees.)

Instead, vehicles like the Mercedes S-Class and G-Class, Toyota Land Cruiser (and related Lexus LX570), and Cadillac Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Suburban, and GMC Yukon XL prove to be the most popular for outfitting. Although status is certainly one of the reasons armored car buyers choose their particular vehicles, a vehicle's Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) also plays a large role. Adding as much as 3,000 pounds to a vehicle in order for it to withstand high-caliber bullets isn't uncommon, so Alpine spends a lot of time focusing on keeping a vehicle's weight well below its GVWR. Coupled with upgraded suspensions (custom tuned for each vehicle) and cross-drilled brakes, Alpine Armoring is able to maintain the donor vehicle's standard ride, handling, and performance characteristics as much as possible. This makes for a more durable vehicle that's safer to drive in the day-to-day grind and emergency situations alike.

Interestingly, Khoroushi said not all GVWRs are created equally: "Toyota and Mercedes tend to over-engineer their vehicles, whereas some GM vehicles, like [previous-generation] Escalades or Suburbans don't hold the weight as well. It's as if their GVWR are more accurate, whereas on a Land Cruiser, for example, its [performance] characteristics [imply its GVWR is underrated]." But the new 2021 Suburban, Yukon XL, and Escalade ESV "have far exceeded our initial expectations," Khoroushi noted, adding, "GM built the chassis of these vehicles far tougher than their predecessors, and they're on par with Toyota and Mercedes models after the vehicle is armored. They drive very well with the added armor weight."

The currently discontinued (but likely to return) Chevrolet Suburban 3500 HD and GMC Yukon XL 3500 HD—frequently seen in presidential motorcades—were also armored vehicle standouts with an 11,000 pound GVWR, allowing Alpine and other outfitters to safely affix the maximum amount of armor possible. "It was the perfect armored vehicle platform," Khoroushi said.

Suburban HDs are often armored up to the highest level, capable of withstanding the aforementioned .50-caliber round from a high-powered rifle. But not everyone needs that level of protection. Alpine offers 13 levels of ballistic protection, all tested internally at the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground and by the Munich Ballistics Agency. (The latter includes two tests: one where the test vehicle has to withstand 350 rounds of various types and a second test where the same vehicle has to withstand explosions from three grenades.) All this testing allows Alpine Armoring to apply its ballistic standard levels to competing NATO STANAG, Underwriters Laboratory (UL), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and European CEN standards.

Regardless of the vehicle you chose or what level of armor you opt for, each build largely starts the same. "The first thing we do is strip the entire vehicle to bare-bones metal as if it's just in the middle of production at the OEM factory," Khoroushi said. Next, the armoring process begins. Alpine, like similar companies, uses two types of armor for its vehicles: opaque and transparent. Opaque armor is largely made of ballistic steels, Kevlar, and Dyneema (a textile similar in strength to Kevlar but generally lighter and thicker), though other materials, such as ballistic composites and ceramics, and aluminum, boron, and silicon carbides aren't uncommon. Transparent armor consists of several layers of polyurethane, polycarbonate, and glass ranging in thickness from as little as three-quarters of an inch to more than 3 inches, depending on the application.

With the vehicle stripped, the engineering team gets to work fitting the opaque armor, with special attention paid to keeping the car's center of gravity low while also providing the protection necessary to keep occupants safe in case of attack. That typically means fitting materials like Kevlar and steels in the floor and thicker body panels around the frame, though it all depends on the particular vehicle and armor level required. Once the vehicle shell is completed, the team moves on to transparent armor, replacing the automotive glass with layers of bullet-resistant laminates. The final step of the armoring process is to integrate what are known as "overlaps" into the vehicle. "Overlaps are a thin band that goes around the perimeter of the door or on the frame of the vehicle that prevents rounds entering the vehicle within the seams of the door," Khoroushi said.

With the armor complete, the team moves on to reassembling the vehicle. Special attention is paid to making the now-armored car look stock both inside and out. Alpine employs specialized teams of upholsterers (other armoring companies employ similar teams) who are trained to match factory fit, finish, and even stitching—not necessarily an easy task on vehicles like the Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus, or Rolls-Royce Phantom, all of which Alpine armors.

The whole armoring process takes about four to six weeks from start to finish, though a vehicle type that hasn't been armored before might take eight to 10 weeks. Prices, obviously, depend on base vehicle and armor level. A Toyota Camry XSE V6 ($35,990 to start) armored at the A4 level to withstand submachine gun rounds (typically the lowest armoring level Alpine Armoring does) could cost you about $75,000, including the donor vehicle. Something like a Bentayga, on the other hand, could cost you well north of $400,000 armored to the highest levels. Most customers opt for a vehicle rated to withstand assault rifle rounds (A9) and wind up spending anywhere from $85,000 to $150,000 for their finished armored vehicle.

Pricey, sure, but as those who travel regularly in high-threat environments know all too well, life is priceless.

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