In 15.5 rc1 bounty hunter saves with this mod cannot be loaded, but the armor pieces can be used in building. The Kroom's Forge sample ships can't be accessed, but ship designs in my folder using the same parts can be loaded and saved.
The only other mod I'm running is Kroom's Forge, and I have tested that bounty hunter saves that have ships with Kroom's Forge parts but no Normal Armor Expande parts can be loaded, suggesting that the problem is entirely with this mod.