NIJ Vs. FBI Testing  ~ Under Construction ~

Since the Zylon debacle authorities have been working hard to cover the void of confidence that was created. Typically anytime any event occurs where confidence is shaken in the political or authoritative ranks of our society reforms are made quickly, and they usually over react to the extreme in a show of force that makes everyone feel better. The problem is many people have attempted successfully to change the NIJ  0101.04 test specification to the new 0101.06 standard involving an immense amount of testing on the product beyond what has any real probative value. Many are in a position to make an immense amount of money off testing armor. Meanwhile, the NIJ after the Zylon debacle did the one thing that really made the biggest difference, and that was closing a major loophole by only allowing standardized test samples that are smaller and more representative of actual sized production vests. Prior to this change manufacturers like (DHB), Armor Holdings (BAE), Second Chance and most manufacturers submitted what were more like "Horse Blankets" for testing. One industry notable called this change the "anti horse blanket rule". What this prevented was being able to strap the armor around the clay box. Have you ever tried to pull a hose around the tire when washing the car? When you can cinch the entire panel around the clay box this causes the bullet to pull the armor from around the corners of the clay box  instead of pushing the armor into the clay box, and hence it's easy to cheat the BFS portion of the test. If a smaller standardized test panel were used when Zylon was introduced this event never would have happened, as the degree of over-design to pass on a smaller panel would have covered any degradation issues that may have existed in combination with poor engineering and/or construction techniques. There is plenty of evidence of this, and consequently there also would have been no reason to buy an overpriced Zylon vest. Manufacturers like Second Chance skimped on the fabric because of it's high costs. The price per pound of Zylon was/is 68.00 dollars/Lbs Vs. at the time about 22.00 dollars/Lbs for 840 denier aramid. So finding ways to pass using the horse blanket sized test panels with as little fiber as possible was the goal.  

We were allowed to see the vest construction that the slain Oceanside officer was wearing. The design was clearly trying to reduce the amount of fiber used to keep the cost low, and with the huge panels used to cheat the BFS portion of the NIJ test very little margin of safety was left to account for production variation or what finally came to be known as degradation issues with the Zylon fiber.

Because of the above events the NIJ responded by making changes to the NIJ 0101.04 test standard, and it became the Interim 2005 requirement. The biggest and most effective change was the standardization of a realistic sized test sample template. As stated above there would not be such a wide spread change in the testing if it were not for the Zylon debacle and greedy large corporations.

Instead, we now have the NIJ 0101.06 test standard where it costs a fortune to gain data on a one time test, which includes a ton of environmental conditions that are weird to say the least.  Imagine tumbling the vest unit 70,000 plus times in a tumbler? Who does this to their vest? Earlier in the month we were informed who was behind this environmental testing protocol, can't tell anyone, sorry, but even some of the inside people agree that it's kind of ridiculous unless your in competition with another major company, hint hint. Officer safety ? or Marketing to grab as much of the Billion dollar market as a multinational company can? Truthfully, the NIJ 0101.06 does more to make vests less wearable than more reliable. No one would disagree that more data on your ballistic system isn't a good thing, but really how many V-50 tests are really necessary. From a police officer's point of view the V-0 is much more important. Also overlooked is factory QC. So much emphasis has been placed in the ISO 9000 or other QC systems to follow paper around the factory, and reliance on weavers and laminate maker's V-50 reports representative of material lots consisting of thousands of yards of material. My work in the field has taken my knowledge and experience consulting for many companies, and the highly touted 100% K-129 3-A vest when subjected to sample testing off the production line has had problems that have gone largely unreported. One such incident was witnessed by a group of sales people during an in house demonstration against the 240 Gr. JHP .44 magnum, Hole at 1447 Ft./Sec. This was an approved vest by Dr. Gary Roberts and his band of followers. In house production sampling is more important than a bunch of V-50 test results. The NIJ 0101.06 test standard conducts a very large number of these V-50 tests, when it is clearly a better idea to do more V-0 testing, that's what cops care about.

The above same group also stands behind the FBI test standard that was created by a bunch of manufacturers interested in FBI business and the ancillary business it creates for their companies. We have met many FBI personnel, and they are pretty sharp people, and the standard that was created addresses an issue that the NIJ test doesn't address, "contact shots". Clearly the premise that an issued service weapon can be taken in a struggle, and an officer can be shot with the weapon with the muzzle up against the armor is a realistic threat, but the FBI test procedures outlines an unrealistic if not an impossible scenario. (see below)

Premise:  A Law Enforcement officer often is in a position where their weapon could be taken, and have the muzzled shoved into their armor and discharged.

Conclusion:  A test for armor should include a contact shot sequence to test the armor's ability to mitigate the above scenario.

Sounds reasonable, but what contact shot test did the above people come up with? Lets examine that.

The test calls for the 127 Gr. SXT 9mm round because of it's excellent penetration capability, and calls for the round to be fired from an 8.85" barrel. Now anyone who knows anything about the 9mm ammunition and ballistics knows that a service weapon at 4 - 4.5 inches produces velocities that are significantly lower than at 8.85 inches, and specifically with the 9mm cartridge, 8.85 inches isn't much different from a 16 inch barrel you may find in a carbine 9mm. The 9mm cartridge basically doesn't hold enough powder to attain much more velocity after 9 inches of barrel length. So testing at 8.85 inches is really testing a velocity that you would expect from a carbine or submachine gun, which is roughly 1400 - 1450 Ft./Sec.. The only real way to increase a 9mm projectile faster is to use a larger cartridge or a lighter bullet; neither is the choice of law enforcement, and the standard clearly call for an issued duty weapon. So when was the last time you saw an office carrying a 9mm Uzi or carbine rifle, if your Uzi gets taken from you in a struggle you have bigger worries than a contact shot.

We agree with the above cited factions that plain woven cloth does work better on contact shots, but these systems are also blatantly over-designed compared to vests comprised with a majority of laminate materials. That's because plain woven fabric vests have to be over-designed to pass the NIJ standard as a result of the relatively poor energy transfer speed compared to 0/90 laminate materials. However the weight savings that a laminate material offers a manufacturer is also an issue due to the temptation to keep the weight low to try to win business on comfort, but when the NIJ changed the test sample size this became less of an issue, vests that were .90/Lbs/Sq. Ft. became almost impossible to certify. Zylon vests would have been so expensive no one would have purchased them.

A curious point at this juncture is why would the test call for a 9mm at 3-A velocities when the duty weapon fires projectiles at level 2-A & 2 velocities? Kind of makes one wonder doesn't it?

Another question is why aren't there other law enforcement round specified in the test at proper velocities for the department to choose from in this testing?

Could it be that the group above wants to emphasize plain woven aramid fabrics rather than laminate materials? If you peruse the subject on the forums  like www.lightfighter.net  or www.tacticalforums.com  you will clearly see that plain woven Kevlar or Twaron are what they profess to be the answer for LE personnel, and to stay away from vests comprised of laminate materials. Tests should be designed to ascertain qualified information about a product and the design in a manner that is congruent with reality, not to try and specify out a certain class of materials. Is officer safety really addressed by doing a contact shot with a 127 Gr. SXT 9mm bullet as described above, or is it more about plain woven aramid fabrics being sold and the manufacturers of these materials trying to sell it?

Another question is why aren't departments choosing effective ammunition that is also simultaneously not as effective as a contact shot from an SXT 127Gr. 9mm projectile? Well they do; the SXT 9mm is not the only projectile used. One thing that is true about this round is that it penetrates laminate vests better than ballistic packages comprised of plain woven fabric. The problem with ballistic packages comprised of 100% or a majority of plain woven cloth is that they are susceptible to close proximity shots, hard cased projectiles fired from cold war pistols dumped on the US market by the hundreds of thousands in the later part of the 1990's, and hard cased submachine fire. That's why laminate materials have been used so widely since the late 1980's. Laminates offer better repeat hit and close shot proximity capability, trauma reduction, and lighter weight. 

If the premise that a contact shot from the officer's duty weapon is valid, then it's easy to diminish the threat by choosing a round that doesn't penetrate armor as well, but also effectively stops the human threat. There are plenty of projectiles that can do this, the 165 Gr .40 Cal HP comes to mind, but there are many others.

The FBI contact shot sequence is a good idea, but the premise for the test and the chosen 127 Gr. SXT 9mm bullet fired at significantly higher velocity than a service weapons can fire these rounds are not congruent. The FBI test standard should engage the use of realistic law enforcement round at real velocities from a service weapon. Additionally levels of contact shots should be addressed. Not every department purchases level 3-A vest, additionally a large enough department may have one type of round issued, and when purchasing armor for the department a good requirement would be to use the NIJ special certification procedure, whereby a department could require the manufacturer to do an abbreviated contact shot sequence on the department issued bullet, which basically involves 2 complete vests, or four panels with 6 shots on each one using the prescribed round.

Even more germane is why not expand the test to be an alternative to the NIJ 0101.06 test standard? With the obvious influences of large corporations in constructing the new 0101.06 test standard being used to wield a marketing battling under the guise of officer safety it's time to pursue a realistic test that addresses more interest in the V-0 results, realistic contact shots scenarios, and removal of environmental conditioning that doesn't actually correlate to how a vest is treated or ages. The FBI started a standard on a valid premise, why not finish the job, and draft an alternative test standard for law enforcement personnel.

Comments can be emailed to info@evolutionarmor.com