A brief introduction into the ballistic protection inserts.

Personal armour is a type of light armour used to protect police forces, private citizens and private security guards or bodyguards, whereas hard-plate reinforced vests are mainly worn by combat soldiers, police tactical units and hostage rescue teams.

Such called “bullet-proof” vests are mainly consisting of two components

- The vest made from ballistic fibres

- The ballistic insert made mainly from ceramics.

The ballistic vest reduces kinetic energy of a round in a way that it can not penetrate the layers of fabric of the ballistic vest. The force is then spread by the vest itself over a larger area of the body in order to minimize the so-called blunt-trauma, the impact to the human body. Utilizing the insert enhances the protection capability of the vest to a much higher level. Even armour piercing rounds can be stopped then. Depending on the technology used some variants of inserts are acting as sole protection, some need the protective capability of a protective vest to reach a certain protection level.

Our insert HSE-001-700-2000-Multi was tested as a stand alone armour by the proof house in Mellrichstadt, Germany on 18. December, 2009. The tests were performed on the insert without a protective vest. The insert passed the testing criteria. Test report in the category „Certificates“

 

Our insert HSE-001-700-2000-Multi has the following dimensions and specs:
- Size:              250mm x 300mm
- Thickness:     17mm
- Curvature:    400mm (radius)
- Weight:         2850g

Ballistic Testing:
Threat:            7.62 x 39 VMR/HK-Brand
7.62 x 39 API BU (Hung. CN 271)
- Velocity:         736m/s – 751 m/s
- Distance:         10m
- Multihit:          3 shots
- Result:            3 x no perforation.

 

Both inserts tested showed the same results and passed the tests.
Our insert HSE-001-700-2000-Multi passed the requirements without a vest, as a stand alone item without any other ballistic measures.
Our insert HSE-001-700-2000-Multi only needs a carrier rig to wear it on the body to achieve the protective class 8 according to VPAM/BSW 2006, Component Testing.

 

Modern (like ours) hard ballistic protective inserts are manufactured as a layered system (Sandwich) utilizing a composition of various high performance materials. The shape is curved (radius 400mm) in order to enhance absorption and to distribute the impact energy onto a larger area. With such kind of plates but depending on the composition and thickness we are able to stop all kinds of threats. Most of the plates available in the market reach the highest protection levels only in combination with bullet proof vests.
The US Army as one of the biggest user of body armour set the standards for such plates.
The plates have the dimensions of 10” x 15” with tapered corners and are named (E)SAPI-Plates which means (Enhanced) Small Arms Protective Inserts.
If only hard ballistic protection is required carrier rigs are used to hold the plates in place, e.g. front and back of the torso. To protect front and rear with our insert  HSE-001-700-2000-Multi a weight of less than 6kg is required (incl. carrier rig) to provide protection against the armour piercing round 7.52 x 39 API BZ (Kalashnikov AP)
With a blunt trauma of only 35mm in a plasticine® block we stay well below the US-Army requirement of 40mm.

 

Application:
There are many uses for such personal armour in both military and civilian.
VIPs and their body guards, private security, police, prosecutors, judges, etc.
can enhance their survivability with our insert HSE-001-700-2000-Multi.
Every citizen of Germany has the right to purchase such protective gear.
Other nationals please observe your national laws before ordering such items.