Merrill
First Name
Marriner
Last Name
Merrill
Department
Engineering Studies
Scholarship Year
2025
Research Center
Non-Center Based
Scholarship Type
Uninvited Presentations
Contributors List
Marriner H. Merrill
Project Title
Presentation: Foggy Windows: Predicting and Avoiding the Fleet's Most Frustrating Failure
Start Date - Month
August
Start Date - Year
2025
End Date Anticipated - Month
August
End Date Anticipated - Year
2025
End Date Actual - Month
August
End Date Actual - Year
2025
Review Types
Not Applicable
Student Assistance
None
Projected Cost
$0.00
Funding Source
Operating Budget
Resulting Product
Presentation at a Defense Conference
Citation

Merrill, Marriner H. "Foggy Windows: Predicting and Avoiding the Fleet’s Most Frustrating Failure." 2025 NDIA Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium. NDIA Michigan Chapter. Novi, MI. 12 Aug. 2025. Conference Presentation.

Abstract

Delamination of transparent armor (TA) is one of the costliest and most frustrating failures facing the tactical vehicle community. When purchased, all TA appears equally pristine and has identical protective abilities, but some parts delaminate after only a few years while other parts last over a decade. Recent high delamination rates have resulted in large costs – a Warstopper study showed that transparent armor accounted for 20% of the maintenance cost for the HMMWV. One major advance in the last few years has been the Army-led development of an ‘Accelerated Life Test’ which consistently causes field relevant delamination in transparent armor parts. We present the development of a method to correlate test results with field life, thus allowing for life prediction and life cycle cost analysis. We demonstrate how the life prediction tool can be used to drive purchasing strategies, field use decisions, and vehicle design.

264916