From: Ryan Gill (rmgill@mindspring.com)
Date: Mon Dec 02 2002 - 00:31:53 PST
At 1:17 AM -0500 12/2/02, Steve Grammont wrote:
>To echo what Ryan said, there is a big difference between a "flak vest"
>(also called "frag vest" or "splinter vest") and a Bulletproof Vest (also
>called "bulletresistant vest", which is more accurate). The former is
>fairly standard issue for combat troops and is specifically designed to
Its my understanding that the Flak Vests are essentially lower end
bullet proof vests (Level I and IIa). The fragments you're protecting
the troops against are low velocity. One of the Firearm's lists or
newsgroups I'm on examined this a while back. The consensus was that
depending on the model of flack vest, it matched the protective level
of certain bullet proof vests based on the number of kevlar or
spectra layers (I think 24 layers of kevlar was the magic number for
IIa).
The big thing to remember is that Police vests and military vests
typically stop low velocity/energy rounds/fragments. Rifle round cut
through like knives through butter unless you get the Level III/IV
vests that have the large metal/ceramic/kevlar/nylon composite plates
in the chest/back area. The weight (5 or so pounds added to the vest)
alone makes them useful only to the most specialized troops. What the
typical cop wears every day is a III or IIIa vest if he's smart. A
level IV vest weighs enough to make wearing it for an 8 hour shift
bloody tiring.
Hmm, looking online real quick, it turns out I incorrectly stated
threat levels.
I .22 LR / .38 round nose
II-a .357 mag (1250ft/s / 9mm FMJ (1090ft/s)
II .357mag (1395ft/s) / 9mm FMJ (1175 ft/s)
III-a 44 Mag semi wadcutter (1400 ft/s) / 9mm FMJ (1400 ft/s)
III 7.62mm FMJ (2,750ft/s)
IV 30-06 AP (2850ft/s)
A pretty good website talks about the subject and discusses the
differences. It specifically covers the Ranger armor used in Somalia.
Granted it was done for a game, it seems to cover the basics rather
well.
http://beyondheroes20.tripod.com/bodyarmour.htm
There have been further developments in body armor for more than
just infantry from some of the articles I've seen One particular
area is AFV crewman. They need less coverage for comfort in the
confined space, but still need some critical protection over
partuclar areas of the upper torso.
--
Ryan Gill rmgill@SPAMmindspring.com
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