Why does the military not want what MAY be the best armour for its troops?

"The NBC investigative report, which aired over the weekend, suggested that Interceptor body armor – which the Army current uses, calling it "the best in the world" – may be inferior to a privately-developed armor called Dragon Skin. Dragon Skin, made of a series of overlapping ceramic disks "like Medieval chainmail" that defend against bullets, has been sought by military personnel and their families in the belief it offers better protection than the Army-issued Interceptor vests, NBC said."NBC later posted the results of its own testing, which found Dragon Skin to be superior to the Army's Interceptor vests. In two tests, performed earlier this month by the Beschussamt Mellrichstadt laboratory in Germany, an Interceptor vest was penetrated by gunfire after several shots, while the same number of shots did not penetrate a Dragon Skin vest." Christian Science Monitor

Why does the military not want what MAY be the best armour for its troops?
It has been proven in side by side tests that the Interceptor armor is superior to that of Dragon skin armor. It is more effective at stopping a wider array of ammunition more consistently. It provides superior "blast" protection from fragmentation. Though not as flexible, it is less bulky and weights 20 pounds less.


I find all this debate a little humorous in the fact that less than 10% of casualties have been caused by small arms and in most of those cases it wouldn't matter what body armor the soldier was wearing. If a blast can destroy a Bradley or Humvee any amount of body armor is not going to do much anyway and debating the minimal differences in these to armors is really more a political tool than anything else.


I have seen and worn both armors and prefer the Interceptor
Reply:The military said it did not pass they're testing...
Reply:Where have you been ?





The Pentagon released the test done on Dragon Skin Body armor.





It had three major problems.





1. 13 of 48 shots fired at it penetrated it cleanly.





2. The glue used in Dragon Skin Body armor, cannot with stand extended exposure to high temperatures. At 120 degrees, the dragon skin started to fall apart.





3. It weighs 47 pounds, vs 28 pounds for the body armor used now.
Reply:Like most stuff on NBC, it is a totally erroneous report. The Dragon Skin armor is far less effective than the armor being issued now. You believe whatever you want, but the weight alone would keep soldiers from using the Dragon stuff, that crap is over 40 lbs. and a foot soldier is already carrying all he can without that added burden.
Reply:The makers of Dragon Skin armor have not paid the necessary bribes to the army testers - that is the ONLY reason....secondarily, it "costs too much".
Reply:Hmm, do i believe NBC, who has a vested interest in a juicy story, and not much expertise in all the army testing proceedures, or believe the pentagon, who has a vested interest in keeping the congressmen whose factories make the current armor happy, and who don't want to be accused of giving the troops faulty or substandard equipment...





I say it's a tie. My own experience is that when the military wants something, they don't let facts get int the way. My unit worked on beaches mainly. We would lay done metal sheets so our vehicles didn't sink. They had us test this new plastic matting. Horrible stuff - it broke, didn't support the vehicles, and was a bulky pain. There was another plastic mat that worked ten times better, was lighter, and suported the vehicles. But of course, the command kept trying to get us to use the crappy stuff. Same thing when we tested these ridiculous forklift tines with rollars. You can't convince me that somebody up the chain of command wasn't getting paid to push substandard product to us in the field.
Reply:YOU BELIEVE NBC NEWS???





If that is the case, you had better sit down... I have some bad news for you about Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy.
Reply:I have heard about that vest and saw a Demo. I would guess the cost to refit the personnel would be prohibitive, also who knows who's buddy is getting the current contracts.