The paper investigates the dynamic buckling behaviour of a laminated composite stiffened cylindrical shell using the commercial finite element code ABAQUS. The numerical model of the composite shell is validated by static tests. In particular, the experimental collapse test is numerically simulated by a quasi static analysis carried out by both ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit. The behaviour in the post-buckling field and the collapse load obtained by the analyses are close to the experimental data. The validated model is then used to study the dynamic buckling behaviour with ABAQUS/Explicit. The effects of the loading magnitude and of the loading duration are investigated, implementing in the analysis also first-ply failure criteria. It is observed that the dynamic buckling load is highly affected by the loading duration.