Lorica Research has been testing and assessing body armour vests and jackets, ballistic helmets, armour shields and architectural armour since 1995 for military, law-enforcement and civil customers from many parts of the world. Lorica’s Managing Director, Digby Dyke and Senior Researcher, Robert Knight, are expert in this field.

Robert Knight fires a series of test shots at armour panels using an assortment of AK47 ammunition.

The AK47 ammunition used in this example is from an assortment of sources and includes armour-piercing (AP) and armour-piercing-incendiary (API) projectiles.

After shooting the panels are examined for damage. Projectiles and fragments of projectiles stopped by the armour are removed and examined. Here is an armour panel that has been shot with AP projectiles. The jackets of the projectiles, either of steel or copper, are stripped from the cores of the projectiles (the ‘penetrators’) on impact. Robert Knight holds some of the hardened steel penetrators which have been removed from a sample armour panel under test.

Here Rachel Dutton fires a crossbow at a sample body armour vest under test.

Testing and assessment of armour products is not restricted to shooting tests. If an armour product is offered as stab-resistant a sample must be tested for stab-resistance too. It is generally not known that ‘bullet proof’ vests are not necessarily sufficiently resistant to qualify officially as stab-resistant for wear by police. In this photograph a ‘bullet-proof’ vest has been deeply penetrated by a knife.

Products also are closely examined for faults. Here is an example of a body armour vest that has failed on inspection. The size of the outer cover is compared in this photograph with the size of the armour panel inside it. As can be seen, the protective armour panel is considerably smaller than the outer cover, and the difference is too great to be acceptable, not affording the wearer a proper degree of protection.

Below is a a link to an example report of a recent Lorica investigation into one manufacturer’s body armour vests as a PDF file that can be downloaded. There is also a recent press article about some of the pitfalls in choosing body armour written by Digby Dyke. This also is a PDF file that can be downloaded.

Apart from providing Testing and Assessment Services, Lorica assists and advises armour end-users, police, military and civilian, in the preparation of technical specifications for tenders and in the evaluation of tender submissions.

Investigation into the Performance of Models KCW223 and KCW110 Body Armour Vests

Body Armour Vests Heavier and Stiffer, but Safer