Body armor, its purpose and capabilities.
This popular product has saved more than one thousand human lives, but it has also killed many people who believed in the miraculous invulnerability of body armor.
Today, dozens of their manufacturers and hundreds of sellers promise you complete comfort and protection from all types of weapons, frankly lying, exaggerating the capabilities of their product.
First, the most inquisitive can conduct a small experiment.
Let your friend of the largest dimensions not be lazy and, at your request, punch you in the chest with all his might.
Not weak?
Now imagine that this blow is at least twice as weak as the one you will feel in a bulletproof vest when hit by a bullet from a Makarov pistol.
The impact of a rifle bullet, accordingly, will have a force several times greater, which will simply crush the bones of the skeleton and turn the internal organs into a chop.
So, is a bulletproof vest nothing more than a deception, an illusion of protection? Of course not. However, it is necessary to correctly understand its purpose and capabilities.
A modern bulletproof vest protects against the penetrating action of a bullet, fragment or other foreign body. Several layers of Kevlar fabric plus ceramic or metal plates should stop it or reduce its speed as much as possible.
Best of all, a bulletproof vest resists small fragments that have a low speed. A bullet is a completely different matter.
If an advertisement or instruction says that a product, for example, «withstands a pistol shot», then this means that the bulletproof vest can be guaranteed to stop a bullet from a Nagant or TT.
But it will not protect you from the consequences of its kinetic impact.
The only exceptions are special bulletproof vests that have shock-absorbing inserts and linings – they are used by army and police special forces to perform particularly dangerous tasks.
However, they are bulky, weighing from 8 to 32 kilograms and also do not provide a full guarantee. In 2003, a sapper died in Moscow while demining explosives, as his heavy armored suit did not save him from the blast wave.
The wide range of bulletproof vests is usually divided into several classes — depending on their degrees of protection.
But each country has its own classification, and combat and civilian bulletproof vests are divided differently.
For example, we have five «civilian» classes.
First — these are bulletproof vests that protect against bullets from PM and Nagant pistols and from bladed weapons.
Secondclass is designed for the bullet of the TT pistol and the Parabellum pistol model for the 9-mm cartridge, as well as smoothbore hunting weapon charges (although a blow from a Jacan will turn your chest into a Kiev cutlet).
Third — protects against shots from light machine guns.
Fourth class promises that your body armor will withstand a bullet from a rifled gun.
Fifth class, which is a vest with pockets for armor plates, is cheap, but very uncomfortable to wear and extremely unreliable, although this is what the seller will most likely offer you.
The market offers a wide range of protective equipment for everyone, including children (they are in great demand in Israel) and animals.
In the US, police dogs and horses already wear special bulletproof vests. For special cases, the industry produces suits made of Kevlar, which are no different in appearance from the usual «three-piece suit». In addition, there are universal life jackets that will also prevent you from drowning.
However, many scammers earn money by selling fake bulletproof vests made of regular nylon, or even tarpaulin, with aluminum plates. It is clear that they will not protect you even from a child's scarecrow. Therefore, when buying a bulletproof vest for yourself, contact well-known dealers or the manufacturer directly.
A real bulletproof vest is made of Kevlar or TSVM fabric, the number of layers of which varies from 5 to 24.
To increase bullet resistance and to dampen kinetic energy, vests of classes 3–6 use ceramic, metal or combined plates.
The larger their size, the easier a person can withstand the impact energy distributed over its entire area. But plates that are too large restrict movement, interfere with bending over and sitting down.
In short, there is no ideal.
And what do our soldiers wear?
A bulletproof vest is more useful in war than in the rear.
After all, if in the conditions of «peaceful» life people are often shot at almost point-blank with small arms, then in war up to 70% of wounds are shrapnel, and occur mainly in the area from the groin to the neck. An army bulletproof vest, even of class 1 — 2, will successfully protect a soldier's torso from the explosion of a hand grenade or a small projectile.
Back in the First World War, infantry steel cuirasses entered the Russian army, but they did not protect against rifle bullets, were extremely uncomfortable — and the innovation did not receive recognition.
The same fate befell the steel breastplate SN-42 during the Great Patriotic War, although it protected our soldiers well from bullets from German machine guns.
The first Soviet bulletproof vest was the Zh-81, which was tested in the Afghan war. Since it could be penetrated by machine guns, it was replaced by the more durable Zh-85T, and then by the Zh-86-2.
Weighing up to 9 kg, they cover soldiers from the back and sides from the damaging effects of shrapnel, and the reinforced front part — from the penetrating effect of a bullet. Today, dozens of new models have replaced them.
Designers of protective equipment also anticipate the emergence of new weapons.
Although laser guns only exist in science fiction stories, a vest has already been created that will protect its owner from a blaster shot.
Its surface is made in the form of a cellular layer that deflects and scatters rays, working on the principle of automobile reflectors.