Ground Vehicles

ATI advances titanium alloys to help armored vehicles balance ballistic protection, strength and mobility.
Why ATI

Armor has a weight problem.

Ground vehicles face a fundamental tradeoff: adding protection typically means adding weight. ATI’s advanced titanium alloys help change that equation, delivering high strength and ballistic performance at lower weight for armored vehicles built to protect, maneuver and go farther.

Ballistics: Engineered to Take the Hit

Armor isn't just made. It's proven. ATI 6-4-MIL™ titanium plate is ballistically tested by lot to certify it meets demanding ground-vehicle armor requirements. Testing determines the minimum material thickness--and therefore lowest weight--needed to achieve the required level of survivability.

Lightweighting: Take Out Weight. Keep the Protection.

Armor is only one of many opportunities to serve ground vehicles. ATI works with vehicle designers to apply titanium where its strength-to-weight advantage can have the greatest impact, from armor and hatches to suspension and other structural components. The result: opportunities to reduce vehicle weight while preserving the protection and structural performance the mission demands.

Manufacturing: From Plate to Part

ATI's advantage doesn't stop at the alloy. Our capabilities extend across titanium plate, forgings and value-added processing, giving ground-vehicle manufacturers more ways to put advanced titanium into armor, hatches, suspension systems and other demanding applications.

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Abrams Tank


A heavyweight case for lightweight materials.

The Abrams is built around protection, firepower and mobility--requirements that constantly compete for weight. ATI titanium armor has a long-standing role on the platform, and the next generation creates an even bigger opportunity to use advanced titanium to take weight out while putting performance where it matters.
What’s the challenge?

Protection gets heavy. Fast.

Every pound devoted to armor, structure and equipment becomes weight the vehicle has to accelerate, stop, maneuver and carry across difficult terrain. As protection requirements evolve, designers need ways to add capability without allowing vehicle weight to grow unchecked.

ATI Advantage

Titanium changes the equation.

ATI produces high-strength titanium plate engineered for demanding ground-vehicle applications, with capabilities extending into forgings and value-added components. Our work with the Abrams program is expanding the role titanium can play - from armor and hatches to suspension and other lightweighting opportunities.

One materials challenge.A growing number of platforms.

ATI titanium is being applied and evaluated across U.S. and allied ground-vehicle programs where protection, mobility and weight increasingly have to be solved together.

What does it take to stop a projectile?

ATI 6-4MIL™

ATI 6-4MIL™ meets various V50 Protection Ballistic Limits BL(P) of threats defined in MIL-DTL-46077.

  • Electron Beam Single Melt (EBSM) titanium ensures the strength and performance our customers depend on for critical applications, enabling
    • High-strength: More protection per pound of material than traditional metals.
    • Lightweight: 45% lighter than steel (traditionally used in ground vehicle applications).
    • Corrosion resistance: Higher corrosion resistance due to a protective oxide film forming on the surface when exposed to air and moisture.

ATI 425®-MIL

ATI 425®-MIL is cold-formable, providing a combination of strength, light weight, formability, corrosion resistance, and ballistic performance that contributes to longer lifecycle performance and fuel efficiency.