Panic is rampant today inside one sector of the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex (MICC) as word spreads that Pinnacle Armor’s Dragon Skin flexible body armor passed the ballistic tests conducted Monday and Tuesday at United States Test Laboratory in Wichita, Kansas, on behalf of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).

Formal certification by NIJ of Dragon Skin for Level III protection is expected within the next few weeks.

Unlike the buggy-whip manufacturers who tried to ignore the foreseeable consequences the internal combustion engine would have on their products, the rigid ballistic-protective plate manufacturers fully comprehend the probable results of NIJ’s certification. They will no doubt redouble their efforts to keep Congress from asking the tough questions about Army and Marine Corps fraudulent misrepresentations on this issue of life-or-death importance: What is the best-available body armor that our troops should be wearing?

When queried by Defense Watch about Monday’s NIJ test, Murray Neal, President of Pinnacle Armor provided this statement:

“We have been working with the NIJ personnel in an aid to their establishing a test protocol and procedure for flexible rifle defeating body armor systems. We are pleased that it has come to fruition and that we have the first and only flexible rifle defeating armor to receive that certification. This is truly a milestone event for law enforcement and military personnel who have been looking for that validation. It has been a long 5 year process. Dragon Skin body armor does substantially enhance the protection capabilities of rifle defeating body armor with less trauma to the body, increased ballistic and multiple repeat hit capabilities, combined with flexibility and coverage options up to a full torso wrap for both males and females. Our mission has been and will always be, to provide the best armor that technology can provide for the survivability and protection for those who protect us.”

A former President of Point Blank Body Armor, Inc., James Magee, Colonel, USMC (Ret.), had this to say when informed of the NIJ test results, “If Dragon Skin is NIJ certified for Level III protection, it will be the only body armor in the world that doesn’t require augmentation with additional plates to achieve this level of ballistic protection.”

The potential consequences of NIJ certifying Pinnacle Armor’s Dragon Skin cannot be overstated. In an earlier interview, Magee said that if DOD were to ever decide to make Dragon Skin its standard-issue body armor, due to some event like NIJ certification, “… of 23 body armor companies in the US, 18 would go away and the remaining 5 largest would either buy Pinnacle Armor, or buy licenses to produce Dragon Skin.”

In this same interview, Magee said, “Dragon Skin is hands down, the best body armor out there by two generations.” His view has now gained crucial, independent confirmation as a result of this week’s test results.

Another industry source, and a current competitor of Dragon Skin, reminded Defense Watch that the Army’s procurement system had spent millions of dollars over the past three decades on body armor, and yet “all the technology in Interceptor [Body Armor design] today existed in the early 1970’s.”

He went on to say, “NIJ has set the standard for bullet penetrations, and [Pinnacle Armor] has met the NIJ standards. Dragon Skin has fulfilled very rigorous standards of performance. The Army has never set up a standard, but uses the NIJ standard when convenient, then switches when it chooses to. Trying to get a handle on the Army standard is like trying to grab an eel… Passing the NIJ test preempts anything the Army is thinking about.”

America’s Grunts finally have the unimpeachable results of an honest test of Dragon Skin conducted away from the corrupting influence of the US Army’s acquisition mafia, particularly James Zhang, Steve Pinter, Karl Masters and their ilk.

Given previous mendacious statement by four staff members of the House Armed Services Committee, the Army procurement capos will continue to be aided and abetted by their congressional lackeys in their efforts to keep billions of DOD dollars going to favored producers of the clearly inferior Interceptor Body Armor.

Proving once again that the lives and limbs of American Grunts mean nothing inside the Beltway when weighed against protecting the financial interests of powerful elements within the Military Industrial Congressional Complex.

Note: Corrupt elements within Army acquisition will no doubt point out that the NIJ tests did not include all the components in a DOD First Article Test (FAT), such as environmental tests. These shysters will ignore that in the second of two ballistic tests of Dragon Skin in 2006 , but not controlled or directed by Natick/PEO-Soldier mafia, Dragon Skin has again passed. The first such successful test was the February 13 test on behalf of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations conducted by the Army Aberdeen Test Center.

SFTT President Roger Charles is an Annapolis graduate, a retired USMC Lt. Col. who commanded an infantry platoon in I Corps during the Vietnam War, is the winner of the prestigious Peabody Award for news coverage, and was a protégée’s of the late Col. David H. Hackworth. Rog can be contacted at sfttpres@aol.com. Please send comments to DWFeedback@yahoo.com.