Composite panels, for example fuselage skins or wing skins of military aircraft, may be subjected to a variety of ballistic impacts. It is meaningful to understand the mechanical response, damage evolution and residual velocity of a projectile for panels under ballistic impact. In this paper, the numerical simulation method of ballistic impact on a laminated composite panel is considered. A rate-dependent material model based on the continuum damage mechanics concept is developed for polymer matrix composite materials. A full three-dimensional finite element model implemented with the material model is built up using material subroutine. The ballistic impact behavior is simulated employing an explicit dynamic finite element analysis technique. The effects of projectile size and velocity, layup of the composite panel, and failure criteria used on the ballistic impact response are investigated.