Under a series of contracts, Rheinmetall has supplied or is now supplying a variety of protection systems to civilian and military customers. The orders include partial armouring for ships for a foreign navy, fibre composite protection components for armoured limousines, and ballistic vests for the British police, delivered in time for the G8 summit in June.
VERHA (short for "Versatile Rheinmetall Armour") is a family of protection solutions designed for multiple uses, ranging from maritime applications to ground vehicles and ballistic vest components.
Rheinmetall technology continues to play an integral part in armoured limousines from Mercedes-Benz. The Group has just won a new order to supply "VERHA Automotive" fibre composite protection components for the new Mercedes-Benz S-class "Guard". As a result, Rheinmetall protection components will feature yet again in a coming generation of top-of-the-line automobiles. As far back as 1988, Mercedes began using protection components from the Verseidag company of Krefeld, forerunner of Rheinmetall Ballistic Protection GmbH. The German carmaker's S-class armoured limousines have been equipped with these products ever since.
At very short notice, Rheinmetall was able to respond to an urgent request from the United Kingdom during the run-up to the latest G8 summit (17-18 June 2013), securing a major order for several thousand hard ballistic "VERHA Inserts".
These were used to reinforce the ballistic vests of law enforcement officers tasked with protecting the meeting. Made of composite material, VERHA hard ballistic inserts significantly increase the effectiveness of these vests, enabling them to withstand rifle bullets.