Patent ID: 8234965

Claim:
An armor plate for use in the ballistic protection of a structure against projectiles incoming from an expected threat direction, the plate having an outer face facing the threat direction and comprising a layer of first pellets made of ballistic material of a high density S 1 and having a characteristic diameter D P , and second pellets which have a low density section with a central axis transverse to the outer face, along which the low density section at least partially extends, the low density section of the second pellets having a density S 2 which is in the range 0≦S 2 <<S 1 , the second pellets having an outer characteristic diameter D OUT substantially equal to the diameter D P and the low density section having an inner characteristic diameter D IN , D IN <D OUT , wherein the second pellets are in the form of hollow pellets in which the central region is in the form of a hole at least partially extending along its central axis wherein each hole is a through hole, each second pellet being surrounded only by the first pellets.