Modern Body Armor

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Safariland Protech TAC PR Package (TL8)
Locations: Chest (9-10).
DR: 26 (1* + 25)
Cost: $550
Weight: 17.2 lbs. (2 + 7.6 + 7.6 lbs.)
LC: 4
Notes: DR 25 plates protect on 5/6 front and rear, 3/6 sides.

While not terribly useful for converting existing armor, this gives us an interesting result. If we assume sides are roughly 50% of the area of front and back, that means total coverage of the Chest is 13/18 (or 4.33/6), or right around 3.8 sf. 15.2=3.8*25*W, for a W of 0.16. Improved Ceramic has a W of 0.15, which is remarkably close. Such plates would cost $1,520 by the article - and as GURPS $ are often assumed to be comparable to 2004 USD, that implies the current cost would be around $2000, while the brochure you linked earlier gives a cost of $363 for two such stand-alone plates. I've been toying around with an idea I call Simple Armor, which gives reduced coverage (specifically, 5/6 protection to the Chest, although I hadn't considered the Side armor being more reduced) but at a massively reduced price. I was intending for 50% of the price of normal (full-coverage) armor of the same weight, but this makes it seem like 20% might not be outlandish.

Granted, the TAC PR vest is extremely expensive for nylon at TL 8 (it's about right for Nomex Optimized Fabric, but searching online for the TAC PR's material indicates it's nylon, not nomex), but it may be made of clothing-grade, rather than armor-grade, nylon, which is undoubtedly more expensive.