Ballistic Fiber Evaluation for Soft Body Armors (Army)
Abstract
The current ballistic fibers used in US military soft body armors are aramid fibers, Kevlar and Twaron. The Project Manager - Soldier Protective Individual Equipment (PM-SPIE), Program Executive Officer - Soldier has tested recently developed ballistic aramid fibers, and the ballistic results showed the V50 (ballistic performance measure) for 9 mm handgun and fragmentations were much higher than Kevlar and Twaron at the same weight. The initial ballistic testing showed that at 27 percent lighter than current Army's ballistic package, the Russian fiber ballistic package met all ballistic requirements specified by the current performance specification. The primary outputs and efficiencies are as follows: a full scope evaluation of new ballistic fiber manufactured in a United Kingdom factrory. The evaluation includes ballistic performance specifications, i.e. multiple grain fragmentation and 9 mm handgun. Additionally the fiber will be evaluated for physical and mechanical properties, environmental effect, aging effect, and degradation. Upon successful testing and evaluation, the following will be the deliverables: (1)Threshold: New ballistic fiber for soft armor to reduce ballistic material weight by 15 percent; (2) Objective: New ballistic fiber for soft armor to reduce ballistic material weight by 25 percent; and (3) Prototype of current Army standard soft armor Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV) for operational testing and evaluation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2011
- Source ID
- ac6076cc272d23b132e650b9271396f0