Modern Body Armor

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Notes: DR 25 plates protect on 5/6 front and rear, 3/6 sides.

Both coverage estimates are likely high. Total torso area for an average adult male is somewhat over 7 square feet, of which maybe five is what GURPS would call 'body'. Those inserts are around 0.8 square feet, or about 1/6 each.

Fortunately for body armor, a lot of that is on the sides or top, frontal cross-section is probably only a third of that, giving 3/6 coverage. Also, the missing area is mostly around the edges so center shooting will disproportionately hit the plate. I would still be dubious about calling it more than 4/6.

It's worse from the sides because (a) most of the armor isn't there, and (b) what armor actually is there is at the edges. I wouldn't give the sides better than 2/6.