The following question mainly determines how much bulletproof glass costs: Against which weapon or ammunition must the glazing provide protection?
The protection against handguns is normally more cost efficient than the protection against long weapons, such as the NATO rifle G3 or the Kalaschnikow AK-47.
| Handguns | starting at 300 EUR/m2 | starting at 30 $/sqf |
| Long weapons | starting at 600 EUR/m2 | starting at $ 60/sqf |
| War weapon ammunition (hard core, AP) | starting at 900 EUR/m2 | starting at $ 90/sqf |
The less the weight of bulletproof glass, the more cost effective are the window frames, because they must carry less weight. The same holds true for transport and installation.
Bulletproof glazings with an area of approx. 1 to 6 m2 (10-60 sqf) can be produced especially cost effective. The manufacturing costs increase normally starting with a glass area of more than approx. 6 m2 (ca. 60 sqf), because the handling is slightly more extensive. The same is true if the glass area is smaller, approximately 0.5 m2 (5 sqf), because the tooling cost per piece must be distributed across a smaller area.
Bulletproof glass with additional heat protection, i.e. with a lower U-value, requires additional heat insulating layers. Therefore, the prices increase by approximately 10 to 30%. The benefit: Less energy consumption of the building and therefore lower heating costs.
If the bulletproof pane additionally reduces the energy penetration of the sun - in case sun protection glass is used - then the prices increase by approx. 10 to 30% if compared with a monolithic pane. This saves operating costs for the air conditioning system.
The installation costs for bulletproof glazing depend on the accessibility at the instillation location: Is a large crane required? Can the bulletproof panes be transported through the building? If the carrying capacity of the floor is large enough and if the rooms are large enough for the pane transport, then the following applies principally: The lighter the bulletproof glass panes are the more cost effective can they be installed.
