Military Personnel

Military personnel require the highest levels of personal protection possible when in war zones or active patrol situations.

While Level IIIa bulletproof vests offer protection from handguns with high-velocity rounds, they do not provide effective resistance against rifle round threats. In combat situations, soldiers need additional hard armour plates to defeat rifle rounds.

Hard armour is manufactured to two basic specifications: NIJ Level IV and NIJ Level III. Effective against regular rifle rounds, NIJ Level III hard armour will not halt the armour-piercing rifle rounds NIJ Level IV hard armour is designed to defeat. While most hard armour is engineered for use in conjunction with a soft armour NIJ Level IIIa bulletproof vest, some “stand-alone” types of hard armour can be worn without soft armour.

Hard armour has a larger weight and bulk than soft body armour, with each plate manufactured to one of several weight specifications. Hard armour plates typically weigh between 1.3 and 3 kilograms, depending on their level of threat resistance and the manufacturing process utilised.