U.S. Army emphasizes new body armor

in terms of HMW-PE fiber. In aramid fibers, they’re continuing to look at ways to improve the resin and unidirectional weave to give them more capability at a light weight.”

McLeary writes that weight has long been an issue with the body armor the Pentagon issues to troops. Rickey’s office has signed an $18.6-million contract with KDH Defense Systems to send 57,000 new, lighter plate carriers to Afghanistan to decrease the load soldiers carry. He told DTI in November that the plate carriers were undergoing first-article testing at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, to be followed soon by lot-acceptance tests. Deliveries are expected to begin in late December and be complete by March. BAE Systems is also working on weight reduction, according to Joe Colyman, vice president of Personnel Protection Systems. BAE’s Ultra Lightweight Warrior (ULW) program is about “trying to find ways to decrease weight for the soldier,” Colyman says, adding that the company expects to see products “start spiraling out and into the marketplace in the next 2-3 months.”

BAE previously developed the Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV) for the U.S. Army, which took 25-30 percent of the weight off the previous vest, and the ULW program seeks to gain an additional 20-30 percent in weight savings across four areas: helmets, soft vests, plates and load-carriage equipment. “In some cases, we’ll see savings by offering systems that work better together,” Colyman says. “In some cases, we’ll see savings on the individual piece by better design or the use of new materials.” While BAE has signed no contracts for the gear and needs to perform user trials, the U.S. Defense Department is “aware of our intent.”

Rickey’s shop is also involved in working on programs to make future tactical vests compatible with the Army’s evolving Land Warrior suite of wearable communications and sensor gear. The Land Warrior kit gives small-unit leaders in the field the ability to track the location of friendly forces by viewing maps and other information on small, helmet-mounted computer screens. The program, still very much a work in progress, is being used in Afghanistan by the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, and had previously deployed to Iraq with another Stryker Brigade. There are also plans to equip a Special Forces battalion with the technology kit next fall.

McLeary writes that if the fielding continues to go well, indications are that the Army will begin issuing the technologies