Modern Body Armor

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Varyon

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.

It's pretty interesting that, as with so many other pieces of adventuring gear, since 4e came out, we've seen about one TL of improvements in body armor. For prices that would hardly have sufficed for adequate pistol protection around 2004, you can buy Level III armor that is objectively more protective and 60% of the weight of what used to be considered quality issue armor.

Granted, the 4400 'Type IV' plate seems like the absolute minimum quality available from Protech, pretty much previous generation plate that, while listed as 'Type IV', actually only mentions being tested against 7.62x51mm M80 rounds, which is why I only gave it DR 25, i.e. enough to stop the rounds it's specified as tested against. If the armour truly qualifies as stand-alone NIJ Level IV, not just ICW ('In Conjunction With'), it should get DR 35 or so.

That being said, ceramic and ceramic/glass plates are getting a lot cheaper, not to mention that steel plates are becoming more and more accepted as viable alternatives. Heavier, yes, but thinner, less bulky and a hell of a lot more durable. And a lot cheaper.

Originally Posted by Varyon

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.

With the plate carrier, you are paying for the padding design, plate and ballistic panel pockets, MOLLE attachments, weight distribution, adjustable straps, quick-attach and release fastenings, etc.

It's specialized load-bearing gear more than clothing, though the padding actually gives DR 1* in a fairly light package (1.88 lbs. for a size L or smaller, without any pouches attached, ca 2 lbs. with the double M4 mag pouch nearly all officers will deploy with). You could use simpler and cheaper gear, essentially just nylon straps that attach pockets for plates, but this should probably add to FP costs for wearing it, as weight distribution and padding is lacking.