Body Armor Testing: Pentagon Spin Doctors at Work Again

The Pentagon spin doctors are working overtime  to cover-up the latest IG report from the DoD which chides the Army for the lack of proper testing for is the most tested body armor in the world today.”

Lt. Gen Phillips goes on to say, “”I am not aware of any incident down range where the body armor failed to protect against a round that it was designed to defeat.”   The US Army then trots out examples of  where the ...

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Body Armor Reliability: Lies, Lies and Damn Lies!

In yet another blatant example of gross incompetence or serial lying, Lt. Gen William Phillips, the chief acquisition officer for the US Army, stated that “we want to make sure that your readers have complete and total confidence in the Army’s ability to field protective (gear) to look after its soldiers while they’re deployed in combat zones and that, internally, the soldier and their family knows that as well.”   Lt. Gen Phillips’ words of comfort to troops in the field ...

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Latest DOD IG Report on body armor confirms “reality testing” has replaced Quality Assurance testing

The latest DOD IG report confirms — again — the scandalous lack of required testing for Interceptor Body Armor’s ballistic protective plates. A long-time industry insider has summarized the unstated and shocking meaning of the report: “What we have now is ‘reality testing’ where a failure is no longer a statistic, but a real live warrior.”

This simple statement strips away the Pentagon spin and exposes this ugly truth: All the crocodile tears Bob Gates can blubber while signing ...

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Body Armor Lies Expose Corruption or Incompetence in Military Procurement Process

Stand for the Troops was founded by Col. David Hackworth over 10 years ago with the very simple premise that grunts in combat deserve the best combat equipment and protective gear available.     It is a goal or expectation that I am sure most – if not all – patriotic Americans would support.    In light of recent Marine Corps testing of ceramic plates used in body armor, we now learn that roughly 5% of these life-saving plates are defective.

While one might argue that ...

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Cracks in Body Armor Plates undermines US Army Credibility

In what should come to no surprise to readers of SFTT, the Marine Corps has confirmed that government-issued ceramic plates used in body armor are flawed.   In an article published in the Marine Corps Times, James K. Sanborn reports that the US Marines are using X-Ray machines to detect “cracks” in the ceramic plates used in body armor.

According to Master Sgt. Mateo Mathis, operations chief at Program Manager Infantry Combat Equipment in Quantico, Va., So far, 40,000 plates ...

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Are ceramic plates safe in US body armor?

SFTT reads with great interest that the US Army has awarded Ceradyne an order worth about $10 million for later in Q2, with completion estimated to be by Q3.

While one would not normally question our miliary leadership in making sure our troops have the very best protective gear, we still are seeking resolution to SFTT’s request for information on the reliability of ceramic plates used for body armor that was filed 18 months ago under the Freedom of Information Act;

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Army Tests 2,000 “Potentially Cracked” Ceramic Body Armor Plates: Where Are Results?

Buried inside the devastating Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) October 2009 report on the Pentagon’s inability to demonstrate “overall reliability and repeatability” in body armor tests is this intriguing statement:

“Testing was halted for other high-priority tests involving 2,000 plates from Iraq that were identified as potentially cracked by nondestructive testing performed by the Army.” [Footnote 14, page 12,  GAO-10-119 Warfighter Support.]

Whoa . . . these are the very same ceramic protective plates that ...

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