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Marines will soon get a new armored vest, but the Army says it isn’t good enough to replace the Interceptor.

The Marine Corps recently released the first details of its new vest, known as the Modular Tactical Vest, after Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee gave it the final nod Oct. 19.

Corps officials said the MTV — which Marines will start wearing in February — is more comfortable, offers more areas of protection from bullets and shrapnel, and distributes the load better.

But Army officials are not as impressed.

The new vest may be more comfortable, but it’s also 2 pounds heavier than the Interceptor and does not offer superior ballistic protection, said Col. Mark Conley, director of maneuver, soldier and sustainment systems for the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisitions, logistics and technology.

The MTV and the Interceptor “are equal in the ballistic protection they provide for the soldier,” he said. “If it [provided] more protection, we would probably be doing it.”

Marine officials said the extra weight is offset by an improved weight distribution system. And when you consider that the MTV offers far more side protection than the old Marine version of the Interceptor system, the extra weight is worth it, said Capt. Jeff Landis, a spokesman for Marine Corps Systems Command at Quantico, Va. The vest alone weighs about 10 pounds. Plates typically add about 18 pounds.

Since adopting the Interceptor in the late 1990s, the Army has made several design changes to include more side protection.

MTV features include:

• Quick-release capability to allow Marines to get out of the vest in a hurry.

• Increased coverage, including the lower back and kidney area, side torso and shoulder.

• Integrated side armor plate pouches.

• Wiring channels for communications gear.

• Rifle bolster to allow the shooter to seat his weapon into his shoulder for proper firing.

• Improved closure strap system.

• “Component-compatible” features that allow users to easily attach other load-bearing items such as packs or ammo.

All of this adds up to a better fighter, Corps officials said.

“Because of our forward thinking of comfort to the wearer and load-bearing capabilities, we do think we’ll have a more combat-effective war fighter,” Landis said.

The MTV offers the same ballistic protection against shrapnel and 9mm rounds and uses the same front, back and side ceramic plates as the Interceptor.

Corps officials see the MTV as a major improvement over the Outer Tactical Vest, which Marines said is too cumbersome and generally uncomfortable. Some Marines have groused that they would rather risk going without a vest than wear the Interceptor, which prompted Corps officials to explore other options.

In December, Marines with recent combat experience gathered to discuss what improvements could be made to the OTV system, which was developed about a decade ago and incorporates a 9mm bullet- and shrapnel-resistant outer shell of Kevlar with two rigid ceramic plates in the front and back capable of stopping high-powered rifle rounds. Side plates were added earlier this year.

But the Interceptor was not designed to carry heavy loads such as ammo pouches, radios, hydration systems and other accessories. As a result, many troops either attached extra pouches to the vest or wore an additional load-carrying layer.

Systems Command held a weeklong “limited-use evaluation” in April involving 40 Marines, after which the three vendors were selected to submit their final product.

In July, the Corps used a focus group of about 100 grunts from the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based II Marine Expeditionary Force to determine which vest offered the best protection, Landis said. The grunts used the systems in forced marches, movements to contact, rifle ranges, emergency egress drills and urban facility operations.

Infared reflectography tests were performed at the Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass., and a water safety evaluation took place at the Naval Survival Training Institute in Pensacola, Fla.

Corps officials said the winning vest was chosen because of its overall design, fit, comfort, “ease of assembly” and the quick-release design that makes it far easier to remove in emergencies. It will be offered in the desert tan color only, with no woodland camouflage versions planned.

The MTV is an interim solution, however. Systems Command is looking for a system that will address all comfort and safety issues, including lighter armor that provides more ballistic protection. That’s three to five years away, Landis said.

For now, the MTV is the body armor Marines will wear in combat.

The Corps plans to have 60,000 vests made and wants to start fielding them in February. Marine Corps Combat Development Command and Marine Corps headquarters will decide who gets the new body armor and when. Each Marine expeditionary force will determine priority within its units.

The Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier has monitored the Marine’s MTV development since it began in December.

For soldiers, PEO Soldier and the Infantry Center have been working on the Next Generation Body Armor program designed to produce an eventual replacement for the Interceptor.

In August, the Infantry Center held the “Soldier Protection Demonstration,” which featured soldiers, both with and without combat experience, evaluating six next-generation prototypes, Conley said.

Combat veterans preferred the current Army vest over any of the six alternatives they tried, he said. The MTV was not among the six vests evaluated.

The Army plans to make improvements to the Interceptor design in 2007, including a “cut-away” feature similar to the MTV’s quick release, to allow medics quicker access to wounded soldiers, Conley said.

“The Army’s always looking at ways to make the protection equipment better,” Conley said. “That’s the number one goal.”