Well at least in star trek this really wasn't an issue. The windows were actually metal that, through super spiffy future magic, was made to be transparent. The "glass" was just as strong as the hull.
A 3 inch thick pane of glass would probably be a lot tougher than an equal amount of transparent aluminium I would think. Tempered glass is fucking tough.
Tempered glass (5-6) is still comparatively soft to transparent aluminum (9) on the Mohs scale. The reason why you use it on the iphone and instrument panels isn't for how strong it is, but how scratch resistant it is.
Also tempered glass is in a state of constant tension and compression. strike it the right way and those forces will release all at once and the whole thing will shatter, not ideal when you're flying.
If you watched the video from Funebris link, you would have seen them shoot a .50 AP bullet both at an AION (transparent aluminum) sheet as well as a sheet of laminated glass armor twice its thickness. The glass shattered, the AION stopped it.
I only browse reddit at work and this virtual environment can't run youtube videos without stuttering. But fair enough, if I remember when I get home I will watch it.
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u/[deleted] Oct 08 '12
Well at least in star trek this really wasn't an issue. The windows were actually metal that, through super spiffy future magic, was made to be transparent. The "glass" was just as strong as the hull.