Here’s a story we’re posting tomorrow morning at Military.com, but I thought I’d give DT readers a little preview. It’s like manna from heaven: an M4 story and a body armor story all in one week!
FROM TOMORROW MORNING’S MILITARY.COM FRONT PAGE:
The Army has opted to delay testing of new body armor designs that can stop powerful armor piercing bullets and vests that contain flexible plating much like the controversial Dragon Skin armor.
Citing industry requests, the Army’s top gear buyer told Military.com the test firing on so-called XSAPI and FSAPI armor would be held off until March 2008.
“Some body armor manufacturers told us they needed a little more time to get long-lead materials and to test new designs before they could submit them to us,” said Brig. Gen. Mark Brown, head of the Fort Belvoir, Va.-based Program Executive Office Soldier.
Brown said the new armor designs would likely be tested at Aberdeen Test Center, Md., beginning in March and finished up by June. Testing on the new designs was previously set to begin last fall.
[Photo: HP White Labs]
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I was on the side of the Army on this one, then I saw the–non-scientific, admittedly–tests on the DragonSkin body armor. What convinced me was the FutureWeapons demonstration. Now, the system might have some shortcomings and need better environmental storage, but I think the Pentagon is making one hell of a mistake by not going with that system.
Seeing is believing. The old chickenplate just isn’t enough.
In every independent test, Dragon Skin performs better. Only in the ” very realistic” Army test, that they expect the soldier to teletransport from inside a hot volcano to south pole, than enjoy a diesel bath just to ask to be runned over by a humvee, is that the current body armor works wonders.
Not true at all, the Dragon skin failed even without extreme conditions, because the adhesive used to hold the disks in place was inadequate, and hits would push plates around leaving gaps.
Also, the armor is much more expensive, and you have to throw the whole thing away when it gets hit instead of replacing a plate.
The TV ‘tests’ were just propaganda, you can’t trust a test that is being put on by the Dragonskin people, independent my a$$. They fired at the vest under ideal conditions. I remember the guy was so impressed that you could unload a low power sub machinegun at it. So what? Any vest can stop a lot of weak rounds. The challenge is in stopping the high powered rounds that define the armor categories.
The interceptor is great for now, and the Army is smartly waiting until the next generation of armor is ready, and not rushing into the not-ready-for-prime-time dragon skin based on its media manipulation and politically-driven hype.
I don’t see anything wrong with this. Engineers are heavily dependent on material suppliers, and if the supplier doesn’t have what the engineer needs then the engineer is just going to have to wait.
What frustrates me most about the DragonSkin debacle is that, rather than address the design faults through better engineering, the company decided to throw a tantrum like a fourth grader. It doesn’t matter how well a product performs in ideal conditions if it fails miserably when subject to extremes.
Hopefully these next-gen concepts will address those faults.
well here’s an idea
HURRY THE HELL UP !
the thing about the future weapons test was that even though it stopped the fragments Im 100% sure it did not stop the concussion, the concussion would be lethal anyway, BUT making light body armor that can take the concussion of a few pounds of c4 is damn near impossible.
just get 5 dragon skin vests and 5 of whatever the army is using and get a piece of paper that reads the types of weapons used against them and the effect on the vest and yes you can measure if it was a lethal blow with dye packs. its neat stuff, saw it on mythbusters . then pick the best one counting weight, comfort and pick 500 candidates to test em out, pick the best one and friggian make it already. this should take no more than a week to do (thats including making the vests and making the fancy chart with a pen and a sheet of paper) NOT THAT DIFFICULT.
I want to be the person who runs the tests because Id have em done in under 2 days the other tests might take the whole 5 day work week.
thanks for you
tanks for su deposuyou
In every independent test, Dragon Skin performs better. Only in the ” very realistic” Army test, that they expect the soldier to teletransport from inside a hot volcano to south pole, than enjoy a diesel bath just to ask to be runned over by a humvee, is that the current body armor works ty..