Britain helping fund ceramic armor facility 16 (UPI) -- A facility to develop ceramic armor components for protection of personnel and vehicles is being established in Britain. The center is a project of the Ministry of Defense's Defense Science and Technology Laboratory and Kennametal Manufacturing U.K. Ltd., which are jointly funding the million-dollar facility. "I am pleased that this investment in a state-of-the art facility in South Wales, the largest in Europe, will further advance the United Kingdom's freedom of action in advanced ceramic armor," Minister for Defense Equipment, Support and Technology Philip Dunne said. This contract is a good example of the Ministry of Defense using its science and technology budget to develop innovation in the U.K. defense sector. Added Professor Peter Brown of Dstl: "This joint investment is the culmination of four years' work. The ability to make ceramic samples large enough for full-scale impact tests and the very significant reduction in time taken to produce a sample mean that we can investigate a much wider range of innovative formulations faster and more cheaply than before.