Army Deploys Vest Tester

Army Deploys Vest Tester

By Colin Clark Monday, October 6th, 2008 1:04 pm
Posted in Land

It’s one of those things every soldier hears about and fears — the ceramic plate in his vest has a hairline crack that can’t be seen. He shakes his plate and nothing rattles around so it looks like he’s safe. But there can still be a crack that can’t be detected by the naked eye.

To bolster the confidence of troops in the protection they carry, the Army’s PEO Soldier  started screening ballistic body armor today, using a nifty piece of equipment called the Non Destructive Test Equipment (NDTE). “Soldiers will have more faith in their equipment. They’ll know without a doubt that they are as safe as they can be once the plate is screened,” Francis Hayden, operations chief for PEO Soldier, told me at the Association of the US Army conference today.

Basically, the NDTE is a modular and deployable X-ray machine. Soldiers being redeployed will put their ceramic plates through the system. It can screen one every 15 seconds for up to 230 plates an hour. If any hairline cracks are detected, caused either from the armor taking a hit or by the vests being dropped on the ground, then the system will automatically reject the plate and a new one will be issued to the soldier on the spot, Hayden told me.


One NDTE unit started operating today in Kuwait. Another is being tested in Huntsville, Ala. and one will head to Afghanistan soon. It can be airlifted via C-130 or towed. Eventually, the Army will deploy 11 of them in Afghanistan and Europe. The cost: a dinky $750,000 each.

Join the Conversation

Nick October 7th, 2008 at 3:19 pm

We shouldn’t even be using this body armor the soldiers over there should be using Dragonskin. The vest used now are a joke compared to it. Independent test have confirmed this and the DOD and NIJ are trying to hide this. There needs to be an ivestigation into this and heads need to roll when we find out who is stopping our soldiers from having the best.

Just October 8th, 2008 at 4:39 am

yah the dragon skin is nice, but it is too damn heavy to be wearing it and your equipment and pack. you wanna wear 20 lbs of Body armour? or 50 lbs?

weaponmaker October 8th, 2008 at 5:31 am

I’ve seen several negitive articles published on Dragon Skin. Not saying it’s true and can’t remember the details. My real comment was about the NDTE. There are several types of nondestructive test equipment — not just x-ray. Ultrasonic inspection would also work fine for these ceramics because they are so dense. You could deploy many, many more handheld units to smaller groups. If the tester was designed for the armor (perhaps with minimal settings for different thickness plates etc.) there would be very little training necessary. Send them a box, a DVD and a standard with a known crack to check and it’s a no-brainer. Dye penetrant would also work.

Mike October 8th, 2008 at 6:59 am

” yah the dragon skin is nice, but it is too damn heavy to be wearing it and your equipment and pack. you wanna wear 20 lbs of Body armour? or 50 lbs?”.….Just.…Are you kidding, my IBA weighed AT LEAST 45lbs (More like 55)with ESAPI plates, DAPS, Ammo and accessories. That didn’t include radio and extra batteries.

DensityDuck October 8th, 2008 at 7:23 pm

As I understood it, Dragon Skin made heavy use of silicone, which breaks down when exposed to heat and humidity. Dragon Skin proponents claimed that this was “unfair” because the heat exceeded that which a human could survive (something like 140 degrees F). Apparently they have never measured the temperature inside of a Conex in the desert in the sun!

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