CommunityEditor
02-04-2009, 07:28 PM
WASHINGTON — Worried that U.S. ground troops already are saddled with too much heavy gear, military officials will not require them to wear improved body armor until manufacturers reduce the weight of the new protective plates.
The Army plans to buy 120,000 sets of the advanced bullet-blocking plates this year. This initial purchase of the plates, known as “XSAPI,” will be stocked in Kuwait and be available if commanders need them, service officials were report to Congress on Wednesday.
The quality of small numbers of the current plates, called “ESAPI,” was called into question last week in an audit by the Defense Department inspector general’s office. The audit said the ESAPI plates from body armor manufacturer Armor Works were tested improperly and may not provide troops adequate protection.
The Army disputed the conclusion, insisted ESAPI is the best body armor in the world and has proved to be a lifesaver in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nonetheless, as a precaution the Army decided to withdraw nearly 33,000 Armor Works plates in question from an ESAPI inventory of about 2 million produced by nearly a dozen different companies.
The body armor used by most American forces comprises a vest with a series of inserts that protect most of the upper body from armor-piercing rounds. The specially hardened ceramic plates are the largest of the inserts; one is placed in the front of the vest and another in the back.
But making the roughly six-pound XSAPI any lighter is harder than it sounds. The plate has to be thick enough to defeat new and more potent bullets finding their way onto the battlefield, says Joel Moskowitz of Ceradyne, one of the companies making XSAPI.
“A certain amount of thickness is required,” Moskowitz said Wednesday. “You just need that to stop that first hit.”
The Army’s testing methods were backed by the Pentagon’s director of operational testing, an independent office that assesses how gear performs.
In an action separate from the ESAPI armor recall, however, the Army voluntarily withdrew just over 8,000 plates in December because of testing gaps. Those plates were made by Armor Works and other manufacturers, including Ceradyne.
ESAPI plates range in size from extra small to extra large and weigh on average 5½ pounds each. XSAPI plates come in the same sizes and weigh one-half pound more.
The extra weight may not seem overly burdensome, but when added to the combat loads the troops already carry — backpack, combat rifle, ammunition, helmet — it creates more strain, particularly in harsh environments like Afghanistan, the Army says. The elevation and rugged terrain there means troops must often track insurgents on foot, and every extra pound counts.
“The vast majority of requests from commanders in the field, especially those in Afghanistan, ask equippers to lighten the soldier load,” according to testimony from Army leaders to the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.
Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_body_armor_020409w/
The Army plans to buy 120,000 sets of the advanced bullet-blocking plates this year. This initial purchase of the plates, known as “XSAPI,” will be stocked in Kuwait and be available if commanders need them, service officials were report to Congress on Wednesday.
The quality of small numbers of the current plates, called “ESAPI,” was called into question last week in an audit by the Defense Department inspector general’s office. The audit said the ESAPI plates from body armor manufacturer Armor Works were tested improperly and may not provide troops adequate protection.
The Army disputed the conclusion, insisted ESAPI is the best body armor in the world and has proved to be a lifesaver in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nonetheless, as a precaution the Army decided to withdraw nearly 33,000 Armor Works plates in question from an ESAPI inventory of about 2 million produced by nearly a dozen different companies.
The body armor used by most American forces comprises a vest with a series of inserts that protect most of the upper body from armor-piercing rounds. The specially hardened ceramic plates are the largest of the inserts; one is placed in the front of the vest and another in the back.
But making the roughly six-pound XSAPI any lighter is harder than it sounds. The plate has to be thick enough to defeat new and more potent bullets finding their way onto the battlefield, says Joel Moskowitz of Ceradyne, one of the companies making XSAPI.
“A certain amount of thickness is required,” Moskowitz said Wednesday. “You just need that to stop that first hit.”
The Army’s testing methods were backed by the Pentagon’s director of operational testing, an independent office that assesses how gear performs.
In an action separate from the ESAPI armor recall, however, the Army voluntarily withdrew just over 8,000 plates in December because of testing gaps. Those plates were made by Armor Works and other manufacturers, including Ceradyne.
ESAPI plates range in size from extra small to extra large and weigh on average 5½ pounds each. XSAPI plates come in the same sizes and weigh one-half pound more.
The extra weight may not seem overly burdensome, but when added to the combat loads the troops already carry — backpack, combat rifle, ammunition, helmet — it creates more strain, particularly in harsh environments like Afghanistan, the Army says. The elevation and rugged terrain there means troops must often track insurgents on foot, and every extra pound counts.
“The vast majority of requests from commanders in the field, especially those in Afghanistan, ask equippers to lighten the soldier load,” according to testimony from Army leaders to the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.
Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_body_armor_020409w/