List of body armor performance standards
performance standards are lists generated by national authorities, of requirements for armor to perform reliably, clearly indicating what the armor may and may not defeat. Different countries have different standards, which may include threats that are not present in other countries.
VPAM armor standard (International)
The VPAM scale as of 2009 runs from 1 to 14, with 1-5 being soft armor, and 6-14 being hard armor. Tested armor must withstand three hits, spaced apart, of the designated test threat with no more than of back-face deformation in order to pass. Of note is the inclusion of special regional threats such as Swiss P AP from RUAG and.357 DAG. According to VPAM's website, it is apparently used in France and Britain.The VPAM scale is as follows:
| Armor Level | Protection |
PM 1
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| PM 2 | |
| PM 3 | |
| PM 4 | |
| PM 5 | |
| PM 6 | |
| PM 7 | |
| PM 8 | |
| PM 9 | |
| PM 10 | |
| PM 11 | |
| PM 12 | |
| PM 13 | |
| PM 14 |
TR armor standard (Germany)
The Technische Richtlinie Ballistische Schutzwesten is a regulation guide in Germany for body armor. It is mainly issued for body armor used by the German police, but also for the German armed forces and civilian available body armor. Producers have to meet the criteria of the TR, if they want to participate in open competitive bidding made by German agencies. The TR specifies different Schutzklassen, which translates to protection classes, which a body armor can have. It specifies five different classes ranging from L to 4 of ballistic protection. It also gives specifications for additional Stichschutz, protection against knives, using the same classes as the ballistic protection, but giving it the additional ST label. The ballistic tests to determine a class are now integrated into the VPAM guidelines, so that the tests differ just in minor details and only one test is significantly different as of 2008.The TR scale is as follows:
| Armor Level | Protection |
| SK L This armor would protect against three hits, fired from 5±0.5 meters, as well as point-blank shots, of:
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SK 1This armor would protect against three hits, fired from 5±0.5 meters in an angle of 25°, as well as 3 shots at point-blank, of:
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| SK 2 | |
| SK 3 | |
| SK 4 |
HOSDB armor standard (United Kingdom)
The Home Office Scientific Development Branch is governing standards and testing protocols for police body armor.| Armor Level | Protection |
| HG1/A | This armor would protect against six hits, fired from 5 meters, of:
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| HG1 | This armor would protect against six hits, fired from 5 meters, of: |
| HG2 | This armor would protect against six hits, fired from 5 meters, of: |
| HG3 | This armor would protect against six hits, fired from 10 meters, of: |
| RF1 | This armor would protect against three hits, fired from 10 meters, of: |
| RF2 | This armor would protect against three hits, fired from 10 meters, of: |
| SG3 | This armor would protect against 1 hit, fired from 10 meters, of: |
GOST armor standard (Russia)
R 50744-95 is the Russian Federation standard for body armor. Prior to the 2017 revision, the threat levels ran from 1 to 6. Noticeably, it included threats with the suffix A, which denote heightened ratings as opposed to lowered ratings in the NIJ standard.The old standards are as follows:
| Armor Level | Protection |
Class 1
| |
| Class 2 | |
| Class 2A | |
| Class 3 | |
| Class 4 | |
| Class 5 | |
| Class 5A | |
| Class 6 | |
| Class 6A |
The updated standards from the 2017 revision are as follows:
| Armor Level | Protection |
BR1
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| BR2 | |
| BR3 | |
| BR4 | |
| BR5 | |
| BR6 |
NIJ armor standard (United States)
Ballistic resistance (before April 2024)
Standard-0101.06 had specific performance standards for bullet resistant vests used by law enforcement. This rated vests on the following scale against penetration and also blunt trauma protection :| Armor Level | Protection |
Level I
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Level IIA
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Level II
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Level IIIA
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Level III
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Level IV
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"Special Threats" were ratings of armor which provide protection against specific projectiles. For example, the NIJ guidelines did not have any specification for armor that can stop M855 armor piercing ammunition. As a result, some manufacturers designated specific armors as "Level III+" to specify armor which had up to level III protection and could protect against special threats like the M855, but did not provide level IV protection.
Ballistic resistance (after April 2024)
In April 2024, NIJ began testing with NIJ Standard-0101.07 in conjunction with NIJ Standard-0123.00. NIJ Standard-0101.07 outlines testing procedures, while NIJ Standard-0123.00 describes ballistic protection levels. These standards completely replaced the NIJ Standard-0101.06. HG is rated for handgun threats and RF is rated for rifle threats.The ballistic protection levels outlined in NIJ Standard 0123.00 are as follows:
| Armor Level | Protection |
NIJ HG1
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NIJ HG2
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NIJ RF1
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NIJ RF2
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NIJ RF3
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NIJ standards are used for law enforcement armors. Armor used by the United States military is not required to be tested under NIJ standards. Textile armor is tested for both penetration resistance by bullets and for the impact energy transmitted to the wearer.
Backface deformation
Backface deformation is defined in NIJ Standard-0101.07 as "the indentation in the backing material caused by a projectile impact on the test item during testing". It is measured by shooting armor mounted in front of a backing material, typically oil-based modeling clay. The clay is used at a controlled temperature and verified for impact flow before testing. After the armor is impacted with the test bullet, the vest is removed from the clay and the depth of the indentation in the clay is measured.Conditioned armor
Some armor tested under NIJ Standard-0101.07 is conditioned before testing, meaning it has been subjected to stress factors such as submersion, vibration, or impacts. These stress factors have been shown in some cases to degrade the performance of some armor material. The test-round velocity for conditioned armor is the same as that for unconditioned armor during testing, whereas in the previous standard the velocities would have varied. For example, under NIJ Standard-0101.06, conditioned Level IIIA would have been shot with a.44 Magnum round at, while unconditioned Level IIIA would have been shot at. Under NIJ Standard-0101.07, the velocity used for testing conditioned and unconditioned armor is the same. Armor conditioning procedures are outlined in ASTM E3078 Standard Practice for Conditioning of Hard Armor Test Items.Generally, textile armor material temporarily degrades when wet. As a result of this, the major test standards call for wet testing of textile armor. Mechanisms for this loss of performance are not known. Neutral water at room temp has not been shown in testing to negatively affect the performance of para-aramid or UHMWPE but acidic, basic and some other solutions can permanently reduce para-aramid fiber tensile strength.
From 2003 to 2005, a large study of the environmental degradation of Zylon armor was undertaken by the US-NIJ. This concluded that water, long-term use, and temperature exposure significantly affect tensile strength and the ballistic performance of PBO or Zylon fiber. This NIJ study on vests returned from the field demonstrated that environmental effects on Zylon resulted in ballistic failures under standard test conditions.
Stab resistance
The NIJ's stab resistance standards define three levels of protection:- Level 1 armor is low-level protection suitable for extended wear and is usually covert. This armor protects against stab threats with a strike energy of 24±0.50 J. The overtest condition for this level is 36±0.60 J.
- Level 2 armor is medium-level protection suitable for extended wear and may be either overt or covert. This armor protects against stab threats with a strike energy of 33±0.60 J. The overtest condition for this level is 50±0.70 J.
- Level 3 is high-level protection suitable for wear in high risk situations and is usually overt. This armor protects against stab threats with a strike energy of 43±0.60 J. The overtest condition for this level is 65±0.80 J.
The standard does not directly address slash resistance and instead notes that, since stab threats are more difficult to defeat, any armor that can defeat a stab threat will also defeat a slash threat.
US military armor standards
Although the US military requirements for body armor mirror the NIJ's on a surface level, the two are very different systems. The two systems share a limit on back-face deformation, but SAPI-series plates increase linearly in protection, and require a soft armor backer in order to reach their stated level of protection.| Armor Type: | Protection: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Soft Armor
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XSAPIArmor is tested using a standard set of test methods under ARMY MIL-STD-662F and STANAG 2920 Ed2. The Department of Defense armor programs-of-record procure armor using these test standards. In addition, special requirements can be defined under this process such as flexible rifle protection, fragment protection for the extremities, etc.GA141 armor standard (China)The Chinese Ministry of Public Security has maintained GA141, a standard document for describing the ballistic resistance of police armor, since 1996., the latest revision is GA141-2010. The standard defines the following grades using domestic weapons:
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