Private body armor fails in safety tests
Published 9:00 pm Monday, May 21, 2007
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army released a barrage of test results on Monday showing that a privately-sold flexible body armor that some families have sought for their soldiers failed extensive military testing.
Pieces of the hefty Dragon Skin armor, with ragged holes torn through its yellow inner skin, were propped up on the floor in the Pentagon, as Army officials systematically detailed the battery of ammunition and temperature testing the armor failed.
Although the tests were done nearly a year ago, the Army declined to release details until Monday, after recent NBC News reports suggested that the Dragon Skin may be better than the Army-issued Interceptor armor.
Brig. Gen. Mark Brown, executive officer for the Army’s armor testing program, described “catastrophic failures” by the Dragon Skin armor, and said that in 13 of 48 shots, lethal armor-piercing rounds either shattered the discs that make up the armor, or completely penetrated the vest.
“Zero failures is the correct answer,” he said. “One failure is sudden death and you lose the game.”
Brown added that the armor failed to endure required temperatures shifts – from minus 20 degrees to 120 above zero – which weakened the adhesive holding the discs together. And he said that the Dragon Skin’s heavy weight was also a problem for soldiers who need to carry a lot of gear.
The Dragon Skin, he said, weighs 47.5 pounds, compared to the Army-issued Interceptor armor, which weighs 28 pounds.
The body armor debate has raged almost since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars began, as the Army struggled at times to get all of the needed equipment to its soldiers – both active and reserve. At times, family members around the country were raising money, having bake sales, and spending thousands of dollars of their own cash to buy armor and equipment for their loved ones going to war.
In some of those cases, families were considering buying Dragon Skin armor because they believed it would provide better protection. The Army on Monday said it was releasing the test details to help prevent families from spending money on body armor that is not as good as the protection already issued to the soldiers.
