Caption: 
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has expanded and advanced a ballistic resistance testing technique, the Laser-Induced Particle Impact Test (LIPIT), previously limited to using microscopic projectiles 0.1 millimeters in size.  To make LIPIT data more applicable to full-scale ballistics testing, SwRI engineered a test system to launch larger projectiles 0.3 millimeters in size, shown here with a needle for scale. The team then automated the process to allow hundreds of tests an hour.