Dragon-skin armor is worn by generals & soldiers guarding VIPs, but banned for Troops' use in the battlefield?

MSNBC's investigative correspondent, Lisa Myers, has just reported this controversial issue! Bush and the top tiered Pentagon Officers call for the Support of the Troops, but treat our Troops outside the Green Zone as second class members whose lives are less important than their own selective members! How shameful can they get!





Why isn't any other media reporting this?

Dragon-skin armor is worn by generals %26amp; soldiers guarding VIPs, but banned for Troops' use in the battlefield?
MSNBC did kind of gloss over the fact that in the Army's test,





The Dragon-Skin failed.





Now could you imagine that if they issued Dragon Skin and someone died wearing it, what the media would say.





Media: " It failed in testing, so why did you issue it."





And we all know, thats exactly what the media would say.





From previous articles ive read about Dragon skin,





It had alot of problems.





The company that makes it, would deny the problems, untill they were slapped in the face with them, then go, "oh , we didn't know."





Another issue that totally missed, is armor has to be designed to be worn under a soldiers load bearing equipment.





They have to work in concert.





Dragon Skin still has not been designed for that.





This isn't a new thing, the argument about Dragon Skin has been going on for several years already.
Reply:the media is friend. i saw today the dragonskin armor testing . It sounds to me just like the bad helmet protection a while back our gov doesnt wanna pay to adequately protect our warriors.
Reply:Hmmm, kind of difficult wearing body armor all day...Bu I do recall myself and the rest of the Second Marine Division being given armor while in combat when it matters. Wait, MSNBC missed that little detail? Cant believe they would put a bias on a story like that...
Reply:This is the first wind I've caught of it. Last I've heard, Dragon skin/scale (which ever) was still in testing after a lengthy dispute.





Just to be sure you understand - All service members operating on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan are issued body armor. It's kinda bulky and heavy, but it works. Lots of people say the brand you mentioned is better though.
Reply:you saw the same show tonite? Hmmmm, about the other media though.
Reply:Because it' a hyped up lame story, to get people all fired up on a new hot topic. the media hs to keep the outrage going. It's all how you look at it, don't take any media repirt as the open honest truth, rember they are reporting it because they make money on the news. You got to take everything i the media with a large grain of salt, they all have there won agendas for any issue, and there main drive is secure more listners or views, becasue that makes them more money.
Reply:I asked the same question about the discovery of WMDs in iraq ( reported several years ago by NPR then the report disappeared).





Maybe, the media is working into a nother frame-up of the Bush Admin to try to shame Bush, while the media owners raise glasses in toast with the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence committee that used official Secrete letterhead paper to conduct their stratigies to defame the president.
Reply:How much weight do you want a front line trooper to carry and still be able to move and fight ?


Dragon-scale is Ok for those unlikely to need to move and fight.
Reply:Firstly the cost and it failed military testing for general combat use.
Reply:Well, I don't think that is entirely accurate. My son just deployed, and several men in his unit have it, and we have placed an order for a vest for him. It's really expensive ($5500.00 - $6000.00) per vest, but does provide equal or better protection, and is lighter and COOLER (thats a big point with us). It also takes a couple of months to get an order filled. The cost per unit of what is still technically an experimental product and the slow production rate are undoubtedly what lies at the root of the military not providing it directly yet. The 1st generation stuff did fail testing by the Army, but the newer generation vests are better, and can be worn under a load without separating like the 1st gen vests did.


MSNBC obviously does not know (or care) squat about military procurement and how long it takes to get approval, and funding, and production capacity increased, then the units actually made and delivered / deployed, but is obviously more than ready to try and lay something else at Bush's feet...and why not, there are plenty of folks willing to believe it. Because they want to, not because it's necessarily true. I mean, it's on the TV / Radio / Internet, and it bashes the President, so it just GOTTA be true, right?


As long as it's exterior skin is the ACU pattern, we've been approved to send it to him. The level 3 armor with the ceramic plates is good protection, but it is hot and bulky, and has some weak points. None of it will stop shrapnel from an IED effectively, and nothing stops overpressure. Bombs kill most of our soldiers.
Reply:Because it isn't all true. This is no doubt either a political stunt or and advertising campaign for dragon skin. There are many valid reasons why it can be used by some people and why it shouldn't be used by others.





The truth - First of all, dragon skin has not yet been approved by the DOD which doesn't only test for effectiveness against bullets. My understanding is that they are aprehensive about employing such body armors because of how they stand under different cicumstances - like bombs for example. Yes, I saw what the discovery channel tested it for, but it has failed prliminary tests against burning shrapnal which will melt dragon skin to a soldiers' body.





Second, dragon skin is VERY new and has yet to undergo design changes that will make it functional for use with the equipment that we already have.





You have to think about things like that.
Reply:IMO Dragonskin is not used because it is "too expensive". It is said that it has also failed in DOD testing which is a nice way of saying that the makers of Dragonskin did not pay big enough bribes to the testers to get it approved.
Reply:Dragon Skin failed the Armys test. It has also failed several independant performance tests.





The problem is that though it is superior than the current IBA out of the box, after it is exposed to weeks at temperatures around 120 degrees and typical day to day abuse, it breaks down and the discs or "scales" lose thier integrity and ballistic protection decreases.





The bottom line is that the armor is not durable enough for every day soldiering.