Body armor safe, despite procurement shortcuts

14 January 2011, 18:00 PM

Soldiers have the best body armor in the world, the Army said, in spite of a recent Department of Defense Inspector General report that states the service failed to follow contracting rules in purchasing components for Interceptor Body Armor between 2004 and 2006. A DOD IG report released Jan. 3 determined the Army had not followed proper procedures on contracting and testing protective gear and therefore could not guarantee the body armor met contract requirements. Still, Col. William Cole, project manager for Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment at Program Executive Office Soldier, said that Soldiers were not in danger, and that the equipment in question in the DOD IG report -- the outer tactical vest, or OTV -- is no longer fielded to Soldiers in combat zones. "We're committed to providing our Soldiers the best armor money can buy and we are confident that we are providing the best armor," he said. One problem cited in the IG report was that the Army failed to perform ballistic tests on the deltoid and axillary protectors that were then part of the OTV. The DAP provides additional fragmentation and small arms protection to the upper arm and underarm areas. Cole said that in those cases, the DAPs had been cut from the same ballistic fabric as other components that were tested. "They were all assembled using the same ballistic cloth, manufactured at the same time," he said. "So the Army tested the front right panel, the front left panel and the rear panel -- and they all passed." Cole also said Soldiers needed the DAPs as soon as possible, due to an increased threat of improvised explosive devices. That increased threat necessitated that the equipment be fielded as rapidly as possible to protect Soldiers in harm's way. "We determined the material used and tested for the front and back panels of the OTV would meet the fragmentation requirements for the DAPs, based on the successful testing of identical lot material comprising the panel components of the vest," he said. Source: defencetalk.com