The Army’s next-generation body armor plates don’t currently get the job done
'The Army should continue the testing of the lighter-weight Generation III VTP designs'
By Jared Keller January 21, 2021
Military Tech News
New Body Armor and Helmets for the Army
The Army’s new Soldier Protection System has been billed as a lighter and more powerful replacement for the service’s existing personal protective equipment, but a recent evaluation from the Defense Department’s top weapons tester suggests the next-generation system has a long way to go before it can be trusted to reliably protect soldiers downrange.
According to a new analysis from the Pentagon’s operational testing and evaluation arm published in January, the Army spent the 2020 fiscal year testing the lightweight Generation III Vital Torso Protection (VTP) armor plate inserts that, when added into the system’s new Modular Scalable Vest, will offer the first line of protection for soldiers against ballistic threats.
The VTP consists of front and rear hard armor torso plates (either the Enhanced Small Arms Protective Insert (ESAPI) or the X Threat Small Arms Protective Insert (XSAPI)) and corresponding hard armor side plates (either Enhanced Side Ballistic Insert (ESBI) or the X Threat Side Ballistic Insert (XSBI)), per the OT&E report.
https://taskandpurpose.com/military-tech/army-body-armor-plates-evaluation/
