National Academies Press: OpenBook

Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III (2012)

Chapter: Appendix D Report Sections Cross-Referenced to the Statement of Task

« Previous: Appendix C Additional Phase III Tasks
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D Report Sections Cross-Referenced to the Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2012. Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13390.
×

Appendix D

Report Sections
Cross-Referenced to the Statement of Task


Original Statement of Task for Phases I, II, and III (See Box 1-1)

Phase III Report Chapter or Appendix
The National Research Council will convene specialists in committee form to consider the technical issues relating to the testing of body armor. To do this the National Research Council shall conduct a three-phase study:

 

In Phase I a committee will comment on the validity of using laser-profilometry/laser-interferometry techniques to determine the contours of an indent made by a ballistic test in a nontransparent clay material at the level of precision established in the Army’s procedures for testing personal body armor. If laser-profilometry/laser-interferometry is not a valid method, the committee will consider whether a digital caliper can be used instead to collect valid data.

Phase I letter report was submitted on December 30, 2009. Findings are listed in Appendix K.

Chapter 5

    The committee will also provide interim observations regarding the column drop performance test described by the Army for assessing the part-to-part consistency of a clay body used in testing body armor.


Appendix K

Chapter 4

    The committee will prepare a letter report documenting the findings from its Phase I considerations. This is a 6-week effort beginning November 1, 2009, and ending mid December 2009.



Phase I letter report was submitted on December 30, 2009. Findings are in Appendix K.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D Report Sections Cross-Referenced to the Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2012. Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13390.
×
In Phase II a committee will consider in greater detail the validity of using the column drop performance test described by the Army for assessing the part-to-part consistency of a clay body within the level of precision that is identified by the Army test procedures.

Phase II letter report was submitted on April 22, 2010. Recommendations are in Appendix L.

    The committee will prepare a letter report documenting the findings from its Phase II considerations. This is a 6-week effort beginning November 1, 2009, and ending early February, 2010.


Phase II letter report was submitted on April 22, 2010. Recommendations are in Appendix L.
In Phase III a committee will consider test materials, protocols, and standards that should be used for future testing of personal armor by the Army.

    

    The committee will also consider any other issues associated with body armor testing that the committee considers relevant, including issues raised in the Government Accountability Office report Warfighter Support, Independent Expert Assessment of Body Armor Test Results and Procedures Needed Before Fielding (GAO-10-119).


Throughout the report and summarized in Appendix F.

    The committee will prepare a final report. This is a 14-month effort beginning November 1, 2009, and ending January 2011.


This report constitutes the Phase III final report.
The final report will document the committee’s findings pertaining to the following issues that are of particular immediate concern to DOT&E.

    

    The best methods for obtaining consistency of the clay, and for conditioning and calibrating the clay backing used currently to test armor.


Chapter 4

    The best instrumentation (e.g., laser scanning system, digital caliper, etc.) and procedures to use to measure the backface deformation (BFD) in the clay.


Chapter 5

    The appropriate use of statistical techniques (e.g., rounding numbers, choosing sample sizes, or test designs) in gathering the data.


Chapter 6
Appendixes H, I, and M
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D Report Sections Cross-Referenced to the Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2012. Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13390.
×

    The appropriate criteria to apply to determine whether body armor plates can provide needed protection to soldiers; this includes the proper prescription for determining whether a test results in a partial or complete penetration of body armor, including, as appropriate, the soft armor underlying hard armor.


Chapter 2
Appendix F
The final report will also document the committee’s findings regarding any other issues regarding body armor testing that the committee found relevant. The study team will have access to all data with respect to body armor testing that the team needs for the conduct of the study.

Appendix C. See additional taskings below.

    

Additional Phase III Taskings Received From DOT&E (See Appendix C)

Phase III Report Chapter or Appendix

    Provide a roadmap to reduce variability of clay processes and for how to migrate from clay to future solutions.


Chapters 4 and 9

    Consider the use of statistics to permit a more scientific determination of sample sizes to be used in body armor testing. Specifically, the committee was requested to review a statistically based protocol that had been developed by DOT&E with assistance from Army statisticians and testers.


Chapter 6

    Within the time and funding available, review and comment on methodologies and technical approaches to military helmet testing.


Chapter 7

    Develop ideas for revising/replacing the Prather study methodology.


Chapters 8 and 9

    Consider the possibility of combining various national body armor testing standards.


Chapter 9
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D Report Sections Cross-Referenced to the Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2012. Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13390.
×
Page 269
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D Report Sections Cross-Referenced to the Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2012. Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13390.
×
Page 270
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D Report Sections Cross-Referenced to the Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2012. Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13390.
×
Page 271
Next: Appendix E Ballistic Body Armor Insert Composition and Defeat Mechanisms »
Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $65.00 Buy Ebook | $54.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

In 2009, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the report Warfighter Support: Independent Expert Assessment of Army Body Armor Test Results and Procedures Needed Before Fielding, which commented on the conduct of the test procedures governing acceptance of body armor vest-plate inserts worn by military service members. This GAO report, as well as other observations, led the Department of Defense Director, Operational Test & Evaluation, to request that the National Research Council (NRC) Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences conduct a three-phase study to investigate issues related to the testing of body armor materials for use by the U.S. Army and other military departments. Phase I and II resulted in two NRC letter reports: one in 2009 and one in 2010. This report is Phase III in the study.

Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III provides a roadmap to reduce the variability of clay processes and shows how to migrate from clay to future solutions, as well as considers the use of statistics to permit a more scientific determination of sample sizes to be used in body armor testing. This report also develops ideas for revising or replacing the Prather study methodology, as well as reviews comments on methodologies and technical approaches to military helmet testing. Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III also considers the possibility of combining various national body armor testing standards.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!