Designs and methods are provided for a lightweight ballistic panel. In one exemplary embodiment the ballistic panel comprises a lightweight structural portion comprising a structural core that is substantially rigid in a thickness direction of the ballistic panel, and a first core skin on an exterior facing surface of the structural core. The lightweight ballistic panel may further comprise a ballistic portion adjacent the opposite surface of the lightweight structural portion, the ballistic portion comprising a ballistic composite made of multiple stacked arrays of evenly spaced unidirectional ballistic fiber bundles bonded together in the absence of resin within the fiber bundles. The ballistic portion may further comprise a first ballistic skin on an exterior facing surface of the ballistic portion.