Army soliciting new, improved body armor - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Army soliciting new, improved body armor

The Army wants a new body armor system that will provide better protection than the current vest and plate system soldiers wear into combat.

The solicitation, posted on Federal Business Opportunities, includes requests for a new X Small Arms Protective Insert to be worn with Interceptor body armor and separate Flexible Small Arms Protective Vests, capable of providing the protection against high-powered rifle rounds without plate inserts.

Both the XSAPI plate and the flexible vests would be designed to stop “specific 5.56mm and 7.62mm” ammunition, the solicitation states.

The 30-day solicitation originally was released May 27, but Acting Secretary of the Army Pete Geren extended the request in the wake of a recent television report that questioned whether Dragon Skin, a type of flexible armor made by Pinnacle Armor, was superior to the Army-issue vests.

The body armor soldiers now wear consists of vests designed to protect against shrapnel and 9mm rounds, fitted with protective composite ceramic plates known as Enhanced Small Arms Protective Inserts and Enhanced Side Ballistic Inserts. The E-SAPI plates protect against larger caliber ammunition, including armor-piercing rounds.

The report prompted a June 6 hearing before the House Armed Services Committee.

“The closing date was June 27th; however, the Army will extend the solicitation for 30 days,” Geren wrote in a June 22 letter to several House Armed Services’ members. “As part of the evaluation process, the Army will test all body armor products that are submitted, including any products submitted by Pinnacle Armor.”

The Army and Pinnacle began to clash in March 2006, when the service forbade soldiers from wearing Dragon Skin. The “safety of use” message banned soldiers from wearing any commercially purchased body armor, but singled out Dragon Skin by name.

Army body armor officials maintain that Dragon Skin has failed to meet Army protection requirements but remain open to testing the system again.

Lawmakers have called on the Defense Department to oversee a technical assessment of all commercially available body armor to put this debate to rest.

In a recent letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Pinnacle Chief Executive Officer Murray Neal stated “My company stands ready to cooperate in every reasonable manner” with such a review.

Ballistic testing for the solicitation entries will be conducted at the Army Testing and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, with oversight by DoD’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, Geren stated in his letter to lawmakers.

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