So here's the official Pentagon Inspector General report on the first article tests for a recent Army contract of ESAPI plates.
From what I can see, the IG is disputing a few technical practices used by H.P. White labs to determine acceptability for FAT tests of new plate designs. For those of you with some time and some body armor expertise, you'll be very interested in the findings.
One thing I've learned through all my years of covering the body armor industry is that ballistic testing is as much art as it is science. If a first shot is over velocity, penetrates the plate and the second shot is the right velocity and the plate absorbs the shot without penetration, is that a passing plate? How much over velocity is too much to use that criteria? Should that design be retested?
Also, it's funny to see PEO Soldier defending penetrated plates after it so aggressively pursued Pinnacle's Dragon Skin failures.
Read the report and let's discuss...
DoD IG Armor Report Publish at Scribd or explore others: Engineering Research Body Armor Armor
PS: I did a search in the Pentagon web site and found that the contract (W91CRB-04-D-0040) does correlate to one awarded to Armor Works.
-- Christian
