Army Body Armor Tests Postponed... Again

Posted by Jesse Wendel, Group News Blog at 6:07 AM on January 2, 2008.

Who You Gonna Believe? Me Or Your Lying Eyes?

Friend of GNB, Lurch of Main and Central has an interesting take on Army logistics.

Seems yet again -- what is this, the third time? -- the Army has postponed side by side comparisons of the Dragon Skin body armor against Interceptor armor which the Army swears is safe.

Main and Central

A cynical fly on the wall would not have been surprised to have heard "some" armor manufacturer say, "Are you insane? We can't stand up to a side-by-side test! We need tome to build a better vest for the testing."

The Army insists the Interceptor is the best armor available, and has in fact warned GIs that if they wear Dragon Skin and are injured or killed, they families will not be allowed to collect their SGLI benefits.

If any reader believes Whining Joe Lieberman and Dick "dick" Cheney aren't wearing the very best armor money can buy, please contact me. I have a controlling interest in a bridge I'm prepared to sell you for a bargain price. After gaining approval from the Mayor of New York, and the Borough Presidents of Manhattan and Brooklyn you will be able to erect toll booths. It's an income for life!

Pinnacle's [DragonSkin] [Murry] Neal says he plans to submit Dragon Skin samples for the upcoming test and is glad the Army is finally taking his technology seriously.

"The extensions, as we have been told by several Army personnel, are primarily for the current manufacturers to fix the plates that have been run through preliminary testing and that are not passing with enough percentage to guarantee passing the [final] testing," Neal said in a email to Military.com, adding he's only too eager to pit his flexible -- otherwise known as "scalar" -- system up against any comers.

If their vests weren't ready in the Summer of 2007, and they needed more time to jigger improvements, then the Interceptor certainly wasn't the best vest available.

I just want to point out that NBC filmed their side-by-side tests of the Interceptor and Dragon Skin vests. The Army either didn't, or won't release the films. Suspicions that the Mk II pencil was involved in the testing just might be valid.

There's more...

This story won't quit.

It won't necessarily be Dragon Skin that comes out on top, either.

DefenseTech has a series of posts going back a long way, if you want the full gory details, as does Lurch in his story above.

What does seem clear is, the Army hasn't given Dragon Skin a fair chance, weight (of the armor) is going to matter a lot, and I seriously doubt the Secret Service is risking Cheney's life in Iraq when they packed him into Dragon Skin instead of a standard issue vest.

If it's good enough for the Secret Service, it's probably good enough for the Army.

Tagged as: lieberman, cheney, body armor

Jesse Wendel is the Publisher and creator of Group News Blog. A writer/director, he is producing "What's Your Pattern?", a documentary asking "why do people date the same types over and over again?"