The use of composites laminates in the aerospace sector has increased over the past decades, thanks to their lightness and high specific strength and stiffness. To achieve a safe design, it is important to understand their behaviour under impact phenomena, because composites are very susceptible to out-of-plane loads [1]. In high-velocity impact (HVI) scenarios, the typical velocity range is on the order of 100–200 m/s; the classical reference cases are a bird strike or runway debris at aircraft speed. Simulation techniques help the design process to evaluate the capabilities of these structures, reducing the time and cost of testing campaigns [2]. Computational cost is the main challenge of this type of analysis, due to its multibody and dynamic nature. The objective of this work is to implement high-velocity impacts in an effective FEM framework, already used for low-velocity impact [3]; this would reduce the computational cost thanks to the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF) for structural modelling [4]. Using higher-order structural theories based on Lagrange polynomial expansions and a layer wise representation through the thickness of the laminate, it is possible to obtain efficient and accurate results without requiring detailed 3D meshes. The methodology consists of coupling CUF with explicit dynamics and progressive damage, in which the 3D Hashin criterion triggers a linear damage evolution [5, 6]. Moreover, contact between the impactor and the target surface is modelled through a node-to-surface algorithm based on Lagrange multipliers with forward increment. Delamination is considered with cohesive finite elements controlling the relative displacement between adjacent plies [3]. To enable HVI predictions, the framework is enhanced with geometrically nonlinear kinematics, strain-rate dependence, and perforation modelling. Numerical cases will be addressed using simplified models of a sphere impacting a plate, see Fig. 1; computational cost and results will be compared with those from commercial software.