By Roger Charles
Those readers of DefenseWatch who have followed SFTT’s efforts over the past year and a half to get honest and completely transparent comparative testing of all available both armor, including, but not necessarily restricted to both Dragon Skin and the currently issued Interceptor Body Armor system, know that from time to time there’s been a tad — okay, maybe more than a tad — of anger in my writings on this subject. After all, it’s truly an issue ...
Continue Reading →By Roger Charles
As you read this Update, please keep in mind SFTT’s Final Objective: the “best-available” body armor for all of America’s Frontline Troops.
DefenseWatch readers are all too painfully aware that the Pentagon currently issues demonstrably inferior body armor when superior body armor is available, and that based on extensive research, SFTT believes “Dragon Skin” (manufactured by Pinnacle Armor of Fresno, California) is the “best-available.”
It is important to emphasize that SFTT wants all feasible body armor alternatives fully & fairly ...
Continue Reading →President’s Note: Over the holidays I thought that Defense Watch should provide some additional information on Pinnacle Armor’s Dragon Skin body armor and the recent certification by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) that the Level III version of Dragon Skin had passed their test. Given complicated schedules on both ends, I decided the best approach was to submit four written questions to Murray Neal, the President of Pinnacle Armor, and give him the chance to respond via email. What ...
Continue Reading →Was Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the only one in the Pentagon that helped propel the American war in Iraq into disaster? While many have also pointed fingers at the White House, there are more profound sources of the problems. Congress should look deeper, such as at the three- and four-star Army commanders, who have much to explain. Straus Military Reform Project Adviser Col. Douglas Macgregor (U.S. Army, Ret.) explains in a commentary published by Defense News this week. This commentary ...
Continue Reading →Editor’s Note: We frequently get questions from readers, “What can I do to help get our kids the best-available [fill in the blank].” Well, here’s what one reader, and proud father of a US Marine, did on his own initiative. Below is an excerpt of his letter. I think it’s worth sharing. s/f, Rog
An article “11 U.S. Troops Die Inside Iraq” in the October 19 newspaper prompts me to write you. The article goes on “So far, 70 ...
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Dragon Skin Passes Another, Non-DOD, Level III Test In Direct Comparison With Armored Mobility Incorporated (AMI) Level III Plate Armor
By Roger Charles
Editor, DefenseWatch
CORRECTED VERSION — Editor’s Note: This Editor mistakenly implied that the armor plate described in the following article was a military issued ballistic plate used with the Interceptor Body Armor system. The AMI Level III plate tested is NOT a U.S. military issued item, but it is representative of the generic approach which employs rigid ballistic ...
Continue Reading →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 ...
Continue Reading →As we’ve said before, DefenseWatch does not normally post Press Releases of private companies, but in the case of Pinnacle Armor we are doing so because of the seriousness of this life-or-death issue to America’s Grunts. The continued corruption in the Army acquisition system shows no sign of being corrected, so here’s “the other side of the story.” (And dear readers, please stay tuned — the story is just getting interesting!!)
During the period of 17-19 May 2006, the Army’s ...
Continue Reading →Issued Released:
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations’ (AFOSI) February 2006 tests of the Dragon Skin(r) level III body armor at ...
Continue Reading →By Roger Charles
On Friday of last week, MajGen Jeffrey Sorenson of the US Army stood up at a press conference and attempted, one more time, to drive a stake through the heart of that pesky Dragon Skin body armor, but, unlike the brittle SAPI plates of the Interceptor Body Armor (IBA), Dragon Skin has proven capable of stopping multiple hits.
Sorenson will, no doubt, be rewarded for his extraordinary display of E-ring valor — he tried, and gave it his all. ...
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