Bazooka vs. Bulletproof Glass

A Hey! Spring of Trivia special aired on Japanese TV last night, performing crazy experiments in the field of trivia. Perhaps the coolest segment from last night’s show was a test to determine if bulletproof glass could stop a bazooka.

The show’s producers were able to find both a bulletproof glass company and an army willing to participate in the experiment. The only catch was that the show could not reveal the name of the glass company or the name of the country whose military had consented to the test. While their names are not directly revealed in the video, there was no attempt made to hide the identities of the individuals or the languages they spoke, so it really wouldn’t be difficult to find the names of the company and country in question.

Instead of a WW2 era bazooka, a modern rocket launcher was used: the Soviet-build RPG-7. A firing team was positioned 100 meters from the target, which was a panel of bulletproof glass 5-centimeters thick. Here is the result:

Result: The rocket punched a hole in the glass, tearing off the arm of the dummy in the process. Looks like bulletproof glass ain’t rocket-proof glass.

But wait! The glass company’s general manager was prepared for just such an event, so he brought another, stronger sheet of bulletproof glass with him. This one was 10-centimeters thick, doubled the thickness of the glass that failed the first test. Let’s see how this one works:

Result: The RPG round fails to penetrate the glass and the glass company is declared the winner. (However, if you plan on using this glass, don’t stand too close to it. The shock of the rocket hitting the glass was enough to rip the dummy’s arm off.)