Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III

363 Pages·2012·6.33 MB·English

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Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III
Committee on Testing of Body Armor Materials for Use by the U.S.
ISBN
Army--Phase III; Board on Army Science and Technology; Division on
978-0-309-25599-8
Engineering and Physical Sciences; National Research Council
362 pages
8 1/2 x 11
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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III
TESTING OF BODY ARMOR MATERIALS - PHASE III

Testing of Body
Armor Materials
Phase III

Committee on Testing of Body Armor Materials for Use by the U.S. Army—
Phase III
Board on Army Science and Technology
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III
TESTING OF BODY ARMOR MATERIALS - PHASE III
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the
National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of
Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the
committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for
appropriate balance.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SES-
0453930, Amendment #012. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed
in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National
Science Foundation.

International Standard Book Number ISBN-13: 978-309-25599-8
International Standard Book Number ISBN-10: 0-309-25599-6

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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III
TESTING OF BODY ARMOR MATERIALS - PHASE III

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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III
TESTING OF BODY ARMOR MATERIALS - PHASE III

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III
TESTING OF BODY ARMOR MATERIALS - PHASE III
COMMITTEE ON THE TESTING OF BODY ARMOR FOR THE U.S.
ARMY – PHASE III
LARRY G. LEHOWICZ, MG, U.S. Army (ret), Chair, Quantum Research
International, Arlington, Virginia
CAMERON R. BASS, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
THOMAS F. BUDINGER, NAE/IOM1, E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, Berkeley, California
MORTON M. DENN, NAE. City College of the City University of New York
WILLIAM G. FAHRENHOLTZ, Missouri University of Science and
Technology, Rolla
RONALD D. FRICKER, JR., Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
YOGENDRA M. GUPTA, Washington State University, Pullman
DENNIS K. KILLINGER, University of South Florida, Tampa
VLADIMIR B. MARKOV, Advanced Systems and Technologies, Inc., Irvine,
California
JAMES D. McGUFFIN-CAWLEY, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland,
Ohio
RUSSELL N. PRATHER, Survice Engineering Company, Bel Air, Maryland
SHELDON WIEDERHORN, NAE, National Institute of Standards and
Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland
ALYSON GABBARD WILSON, Institute for Defense Analyses, Alexandria,
Virginia

Staff
BRUCE A. BRAUN, Director, Board on Army Science and Technology
ROBERT LOVE, Study Director
HARRISON T. PANNELLA, Senior Program Officer
NIA D. JOHNSON, Senior Research Associate, Board on Army Science and
Technology
JAMES MYSKA, Senior Research Associate, Board on Army Science and
Technology
DEANNA P. SPARGER, Program Administrative Coordinator, Board on Army
Science and Technology
ANN LARROW, Research Assistant
JOSEPH PALMER, Senior Program Assistant
ALICE WILLIAMS, Senior Program Assistant (until September 10, 2010)
CONSTANCE CITRO, Director, Committee on National Statistics
DENNIS CHAMOT, Acting Director, National Materials Advisory Board
JAMES P. McGEE, Director, Army Research Laboratory Technical Assessment
Board

1NAE/IOM, National Academy of Engineering/Institute of Medicine
v

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III
TESTING OF BODY ARMOR MATERIALS - PHASE III
BOARD ON ARMY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ALAN H. EPSTEIN, Chair, Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford, Connecticut
DAVID M. MADDOX, Vice Chair, Independent Consultant, Arlington, Virginia
DUANE ADAMS, Independent Consultant, Carnegie Mellon University (retired),
Arlington, Virginia
ILESANMI ADESIDA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
EDWARD C. BRADY, Strategic Perspectives, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Florida
MARY E. BOYCE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
W. PETER CHERRY, Independent Consultant, Ann Arbor, Michigan
EARL H. DOWELL, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
JULIA D. ERDLEY, Pennsylvania State University, State College
LESTER A. FOSTER, Electronic Warfare Associates, Herndon, Virginia
JAMES A. FREEBERSYSER, BBN Technology, St. Louis Park, Minnesota
RONALD P. FUCHS, Independent Consultant, Seattle, Washington
W. HARVEY GRAY, Independent Consultant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
JOHN J. HAMMOND, Lockheed Martin Corporation (retired), Fairfax, Virginia
RANDALL W. HILL, JR., University of Southern California Institute for
Creative Technologies, Playa Vista
JOHN W. HUTCHINSON, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
MARY JANE IRWIN, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
ROBIN L. KEESEE, Independent Consultant, Fairfax, Virginia
ELLIOT D. KIEFF, Channing Laboratory, Harvard University, Boston,
Massachusetts
WILLIAM L. MELVIN, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Smyrna
ROBIN MURPHY, Texas A&M University, College Station
SCOTT PARAZYNSKI, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
RICHARD R. PAUL, Independent Consultant, Bellevue, Washington
JEAN D. REED, Independent Consultant, Arlington, Virginia
LEON E. SALOMON, Independent Consultant, Gulfport, Florida
JONATHAN M. SMITH, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
MARK J.T. SMITH, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
MICHAEL A. STROSCIO, University of Illinois, Chicago
DAVID A. TIRRELL, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
JOSEPH YAKOVAC, President, JVM LLC, Hampton, Virginia

Staff

BRUCE A. BRAUN, Director
CHRIS JONES, Financial Manager
DEANNA P. SPARGER, Program Administrative Coordinator

vi

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III
TESTING OF BODY ARMOR MATERIALS - PHASE III

Preface

This report is the final volume of a three-phase study commissioned by the
Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) of the Department of
Defense (DoD) to assist in addressing shortcomings that had been reported by the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the DoD Inspector General in
DoD’s body armor testing process. Independent committees were empanelled for
the three study phases. Each committee produced an independent report, although
this final Phase III report builds on the results of the letter reports delivered in
Phases I and II, both of which provided findings and recommendations on key
issues that required near-term resolution by DOT&E. The study was conducted
under the auspices of the National Research Council (NRC) Board on Army
Science and Technology (BAST) and Committee on National Statistics.
The Phase I letter report, released in January 2010, addressed the
adequacy of laser instrumentation for evaluating ballistics tests in clay material.
The Phase II report, released in May 2010, focused on the behavior of ballistics
clay used as a recording medium during live-fire testing. The Phase III committee
had more time for meetings and data gathering than the two previous committees
and was able to use the substantial amount of data collected throughout the entire
study. As a result the committee was able to delve more deeply into all available
data than had been possible in the earlier phases of the effort.
This Phase III report provides a wide range of recommendations designed
to help enable the entire body armor community utilize an effective testing
process leading to fielding the best equipment possible that meets performance
specifications while reducing the weight burden placed on soldiers in training or
combat.
The Phase III committee deserves special thanks for its hard work.
Several committee members went well beyond the norm in interviewing
numerous experts, assessing the pertinent issues, and developing
recommendations to address the many demands of the committee’s statement of
task. In particular, committee member Thomas Budinger deserves special credit
for leading the Phase III ad hoc instrumentation committee subgroup that
produced a thoughtful review of the data and information related to
instrumentation. The committee is also grateful to the many DoD, Army, Marine
Corps, industry, and contractor personnel engaged in body armor testing for the
useful information they provided.
Finally, the committee also greatly appreciates the support and assistance
of the NRC staff members who assisted the committee in its fact-finding activities
vii

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III
TESTING OF BODY ARMOR MATERIALS - PHASE III
and in the production of the three separate committee reports. In particular, thanks
are due to the BAST staff, principally Bruce Braun, Margaret Novack and Robert
Love, who ably facilitated the committee’s work.

Larry Lehowicz, Chair
Committee on Testing of Body Armor
Materials for Use by the U.S. Army
viii

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III
TESTING OF BODY ARMOR MATERIALS - PHASE III

Acknowledgments

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their
diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures
approved by the National Research Council Report Review Committee. The
purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments
that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible
and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity,
evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft
manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

Morris E. Fine (NAE), Northwestern University
John S. Foster, Jr. (NAE), GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems
David Higdon, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Peter Matic, Naval Research Laboratory
Erik Novak, Veeco Instruments,
Henry Smith, (NAE), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Leslie J. Struble, University of Illinois
Stephen F. Vatner, New Jersey Medical School
Emmanuel Yashchin, IBM Watson Research Center
Laurence R. Young (NAE/IOM), Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive
comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or
recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release.
The review of this report was overseen by Lawrence D. Brown, NAS, Wharton
School, University of Pennsylvania, and Arthur H. Heuer, NAE, Case Western
Reserve University. Appointed by the National Research Council, they were
responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was
carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review
comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this
report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
ix

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.