Ballistic Info

Recently, the National Institute of Justice published a report that indicated only 1/3 of all criminal justice agencies require their officers to wear bullet proof vests while on duty. Many police officers, security guards and other men and women who put themselves in the line of fire are not required to wear them unless they are on high danger tactical forces. The problem is that a routine traffic stop, DUI checkpoints, the serving of a warrant, extra jobs at the bowling alley or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time can make you a target of gunfire by the sheer nature of your outer uniform. Seasoned officers admit that you never know when a routine domestic situation or un-alarming call will turn deadly and that what you wear beneath your blues, both heart and body armor, are the two fragile components that can allow you to keep your own life in tact.

There is a good chance that your agency provides you will bulletproof vests. Before wearing your vest it is vital that you are fitted properly, rather than just ordered a size based on an approximate measurement. Gaps in the bullet proof vest can leave an opening for a stray bullet and can cause you to feel cumbersome when moving around. When a bullet proof vest fits properly, it will lie like second skin against your body and you will be able to easily adjust to the weight after you become accustomed to it. Additionally, after five or so years your vest may be outdated and the Kevlar threads can become weakened. It should be replaced. Other indications that call for a vest replacement are if you have lost or gained weight recently which has altered the size of your normal clothes. If your vest has ever been involved in a shooting or piercing incident, the vest should be deemed unusable and replacement purchased.

Bullet proof vests are not only affordable but come in a wide range of gauges to give you just the right amount of protection for your job. They also have a full and expanse line of tactical gear like bullet proof bags, trauma plates and other gear designed to give you protection in a high fire power situation so that you can walk away with your life. Israeli bulletproof vests produced with Israeli Defense Forces ensuring that their products will hold up to he most aggressive of stand offs. They can provide an entire force or team of security officers with the gear they need to remain safe as well as sell updated equipment to an officer that wants to protect himself. From a long line of bullet proof vests, body armor, bullet proof bags and even stop spikes, everything an officer needs to gain the upper hand is offered at reasonable costs with the highest level of safety and security in mind.

One of the most significant achievements in the development of body armor was the invention of DuPont’s Kevlar ballistic fabric. Invented by Polish-American female chemist Stephanie Kwolek while working for DuPont, Kevlar was accidently invented. Ironically, the fabric was originally intended to replace steel belting in vehicle tires. In 1964, her group began searching for a new lightweight strong fiber to use for light but strong tires. The polymers she had been working with at the time, poly-p-Phenylene-terephthalate and polybenzamide, formed liquid crystal while in solution, something unique to those polymers at the time. The solution was cloudy, opalescent upon being stirred, and of low viscosity and usually was thrown away. However, Kwolek persuaded the technician, Charles Smullen, who ran the “spinneret”, to test her solution, and was amazed to find that the fiber did not break, unlike nylon.

Her supervisor and her laboratory director understood the significance of her discovery and a new field of polymer chemistry quickly arose, giving birth to the incredibly strong fabric we all know today that stop bullets.

The next generation of anti-ballistic bullet proof vest was the World War II “flak jacket” made from ballistic nylon. The flak jacket provided protection primarily from ammunitions fragments and was ineffective against most direct pistol and rifle threats. Flak jackets were also very cumbersome and bulky and hinder a soldier’s effectiveness on the battlefield.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office lists records dating back to 1919 for various designs of bullet proof vests and body armor type garments. One of the first documented instances where such a garment was demonstrated for use by law enforcement officers was detailed in the April 2, 1931 edition of the Washington, D.C., Evening Star, where a bullet proof vest was demonstrated to members of the Metropolitan Police Department.

One of the first recorded instances of the use of soft body armor was by the medieval Japanese, who used armor plate manufactured from silk. It was not until the late 19th century that the first use of soft body armor in the United States was recorded. At that time, the military explored the possibility of using soft body armor manufactured from silk. This form of armor plate project even attracted congressional attention after the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901.

This form of armor plate proved successful after the garments were shown to be effective against low-velocity bullets, those traveling at 400 feet per second or less, but however this armor plate did not offer protection against the new generation of handgun ammunition being introduced at that time. Ammunition that traveled at velocities of more than 600 feet per second. This, along with the prohibitive cost of silk made this new armor plate concept unacceptable. Silk body armor of this type was said to have been worn by Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria when he was killed by a shot to the head, thereby precipitating World War I.

As early as the dawning of time armor plate of some sort whether animal hides or wood has been used to defeat weaponry. Dating back to the Ancient Greeks and civilizations around the world people have created some form of protectant body armor during battle. Whether this armor was an armor plate using layers of bronze or animal skin layered over to form fit a torso thereby creating protectant body armor. As civilizations became more advanced, wooden shields and then metal shields came into use. These shields became mobile armor plate or carried body armor as we reference today.

The Roman’s Legions under the command of Julius Caesar saw a change in armor plate and all Legionaries wore uniformed body armor and armor plate designed shield mixed with bronze or metal. The Romans changed their weaponry as well and developed a standing military force up unto that time the world had never seen. The end result was world power for hundreds of years. Body armor can be extremely effective in terms of a whole military force as proven by the Greeks and expanded by the Romans.

Eventually, metal was also seen in expansion to body armor, what we now refer to as the suit of armor associated with the knights of the Middle Ages. Shields used as armor plate were still in use but the history of body armor was changing. However, with the invention of firearms around 1500, metal body armor became ineffective.

As history has changed with the advancement of weapons and ballistics, body armor and armor plate material has also changed with it. As time goes on it maintains a constant race for the development of advanced weaponry and stronger armor to defeat it. After the invention of cannons and early rifles body armor and the technology to develop some form of armor plate seemed ineffective for the average soldier on the battlefield. The only form of armor plate that seemed to defeat the rifle and even canon fire was thick iron used as armor plate on the sides of naval vessels as this was seen on both sides of the American Civil War.

It wasn’t until the 20th century that armor plate made an amazing comeback and for the first time in history it seemed body armor for the average soldier and law enforcement was on the superior side.

Body armor plates has advanced from hides and skins, to metal, to super strong synthetic fibers, to super strong synthetic hard materials. These new super strong hard materials are called ceramics. Ceramics are some of the hardest materials known to man. Unlike materials like Kevlar which uses its fibers to “catch” the bullet, ceramics are so hard they break the projectile. The strongest ceramic armor plates are made of boron carbide. The ceramic armor plates are made by compressing and baking the boron carbide powder in a kiln at 4000 degrees Fahrenheit. The plates are then used in conjunction (or stand alone) with bulletproof vests to defend against high powered rifle rounds and dangerous weapons ballistics and fragmentation.

So with all these obvious benefits of ceramic body armor, you’re probably wondering what the downfalls are. Well the biggest downfall of ceramic body armor is both a good thing and a bad thing. When a ceramic body armor plate is hit by a projectile it cracks and splinters so each subsequent hit weakens the armor plate more. The bad is fairly obvious, soldiers probably aren’t carrying extra ceramic armor plates around, if they take a lot of hits in the same area. There has been a lot of research into how to minimize this effect. Elastic materials, shrinking the bullet proof plates and even making the ceramic armor plates out of small ceramic pebbles and fireproof glue have been some methods. The good might not be as obvious but it’s very beneficial. Because the ceramic armor plates cracks, it dissipates the force of the projectile without injuring the soldier. Ceramic body armor inserts for bulletproof vests aren’t the only uses that have been found for ceramic armor plates either.

Since ceramic body armor is so strong, up to 5 times stronger than steel (initial impact) and also up to 70% lighter, more and more potential is emerging from ceramics. Advancements are happening every day, just recently some scientists are claiming they can make ceramic armor plates even stronger with the help of nanotechnology. Who knows what will be developed next?