Lightening Body Armor - RAND Corporation

66 Pages·2012·0.75 MB·English

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TECHNICAL REPORT
Lightening Body Armor
Arroyo Support to the Army Response
to Section 125 of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011
Kenneth Horn • Kimberlie Biever • Kenneth Burkman • Paul DeLuca
Lewis Jamison • Michael Kolb • Aatif Sheikh

ARROYO CENTER
The research described in this report was sponsored by the United States Army under
Contract No. W74V8H-06-C-0001.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lightening body armor : Arroyo support to the Army response to Section 125 of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 / Kenneth Horn ... [et al.].
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8330-5844-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Body armor—Standards—United States. 2. Body armor—United States—Testing. 3. United States. Dept. of
Defense—Appropriations and expenditures. I. Horn, Kenneth P., 1937- II. Rand Corporation. III. Arroyo Center.
U825.L54 2012
623.4'41—dc23
2012003923
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Preface
The body armor that U.S. forces wear in Afghanistan is effective against ballistic threats: There
have not been any known penetrations of the body armor or fatalities when the currently issued
body armor was struck by projectiles it was designed to stop. However, the combat loads that
dismounted soldiers and marines carry on patrol are very heavy, and a large portion of this load
is due to body armor.
Congress asked the question, How can body armor weight be reduced? Congress’s per-
ception is that the Department of Defense has been slow in developing and deploying lighter-
weight body armor. In Section 125 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2011, Congress requested that a federally funded research and development center conduct a
study of lightening body armor. RAND Arroyo Center was selected to perform this study and
was sponsored by Dr. Scott Fish, Army Chief Scientist, Assistant Secretary of the Army for
Acquisition, Logistics and Technology.
This document should interest those involved with lightening body armor and the combat
loads of dismounted soldiers and marines.
The research was conducted in RAND Arroyo Center’s Force Development and Technol-
ogy Program. RAND Arroyo Center, part of the RAND Corporation, is a federally funded
research and development center sponsored by the United States Army.
The Project Unique Identification Code (PUIC) for the project that produced this docu-
ment is HQD116049.
For more information on RAND Arroyo Center, contact the Director of Operations
(telephone [phone], extension 6419; FAX [phone]; email Marcy_Agmon@rand.
org) or visit the Arroyo Center’s website at http://www.rand.org/ard/.
iii

Contents
Preface ........................................................................................................... iii
Figures and Tables .............................................................................................vii
Summary ........................................................................................................ ix
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................xiii
Abbreviations ...................................................................................................xv
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1
Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................. 1
Study Caveats ..................................................................................................... 2
Research Approach ............................................................................................... 3
Literature Review .............................................................................................. 3
Interviews ....................................................................................................... 3
Independent Analyses ......................................................................................... 3
Organization of This Document ............................................................................... 3
CHAPTER TWO
Background ...................................................................................................... 5
Soldier Combat Load Is Daunting ............................................................................. 5
Average Combat Loads for Soldiers and Marines .......................................................... 5
Load Impacts Performance ................................................................................... 6
Body Armor Weight Contributes to the Overall Load .................................................... 9
Current Body Armor Is Effective ..............................................................................10
Body Armor Must Be Capable of Handling Multiple Ballistic Round Penetrations and
Limiting Backface Deformation..........................................................................11
Basis for the Two Requirements .............................................................................11
Summary .........................................................................................................12
CHAPTER THREE
Four Approaches to Lightening Body Armor ............................................................15
Refining Requirements .........................................................................................15
Assessing Threats .............................................................................................15
Tailoring Body Armor as a Means to Lighten Body Armor .............................................17
Using Modular Configurations ...............................................................................17
Examples of Modular Configurations ......................................................................18
Coverage Versus Weight .....................................................................................18
v
vi Lightening Body Armor
Body Armor Protection Levels ............................................................................. 20
Using Modular Configurations as a Means to Lighten Body Armor ...................................21
Improving Testing ............................................................................................. 22
Literature Review ............................................................................................ 22
Our Findings Regarding Current Testing ................................................................ 23
Our Findings Regarding Future Testing .................................................................. 24
Testing as a Means to Lighten Body Armor ...............................................................25
Improving Materials ............................................................................................25
Materials Used in Today’s Body Armor ....................................................................25
Potential Future Body Armor Materials ................................................................... 26
Improving Hard Armor Materials ......................................................................... 27
Improving Soft Armor Materials ........................................................................... 28
How to Best Develop the Next Generation of Body Armor: Acquisition Program of Record
Versus Commodity Procurement ......................................................................29
Developing and Fielding Lighter Body Armor Would Require a Comprehensive
R&D Strategy ............................................................................................31
Using the Procurement Process/R&D Funding as a Means to Lighten Body Armor ................33
CHAPTER FOUR
Conclusions .....................................................................................................35
Comparison of the Four Approaches .........................................................................35
General Conclusions ............................................................................................37
Specific Issues Raised in Section 125 of P.L. 111-383 ......................................................37
CHAPTER FIVE
Recommendations .............................................................................................39
Top-Level Recommendations ..................................................................................39
Specific Recommendations ....................................................................................39
APPENDIX
Army, Marine Corps, and SOCOM Processes for Procuring Body Armor .........................41
Bibliography ....................................................................................................45
Figures and Tables
Figures
S.1. Comparison of the Four Approaches to Reducing Body Armor Weight ..................... x
2.1. An Army Soldier Carrying a Full Combat Load ................................................ 6
2.2. Individual Combat Loads for Marines, by Position ............................................ 7
2.3. Performance Decreases as Combat Load Increases ............................................. 8
2.4. Probability of Lethality as a Function of Backface Deformation ............................13
3.1. Effectiveness of Body Armor Against Different Threat Types ................................16
3.2. An Example of a Suite of Body Armor Plates ..................................................19
3.3. Example Components for Modular Body Armor Configurations ...........................19
3.4. Body Armor Weight Increases as Coverage Increases ........................................ 20
3.5. Stiffness of Current and Potential Hard Plate Materials as a Function of Density ....... 27
4.1. Comparison of the Four Approaches to Reducing Body Armor Weight ....................35
Tables
2.1. Average Combat Loads for Army Soldiers in Afghanistan, 2003 ............................. 5
3.1. Body Armor Protection Levels ...................................................................21
3.2. Comparison of Commodity Procurement Versus Hypothetical Program of
Record Acquisition ............................................................................... 30
A.1. Summary of Army, Marine Corps, and SOCOM Processes for Procuring
Body Armor ....................................................................................... 42
A.2. Summary of Army Body Armor RDT&E Funding .......................................... 43
vii