Meeting the ballistic threats of the modern battlefield can be quite a challenge. The sight of bomb disposal personnel wearing heavy armour designed to protect against most effects of a moderate sized explosion, such as bombs encountered in terror threats, is fast becoming a common sight in Jammu & Kashmir and the North East, in addition to the metro cities whenever a bomb threat lurks. Wearing body armour for protection against bullets and shrapnel is also becoming the norm among security personnel.
While the armour provides an indispensable defense, its weight and placement on the body exposes the wearer to neck, shoulder and back discomfort. The problem is not just the armour, but also the heavy equipment?rifles, ammunition, grenades, radios, medical kits, backpacks, water, and other supplies?which security personnel routinely wear for hours and days at a time.
Help for the hapless soldier is round the corner. To alleviate discomfort and reduce the fatigue that reduces the soldier?s tactical effectiveness, a new generation of body armour system is being developed in the US. Good news is that Indian security agencies are exploring these sophisticated body wear.
For instance, a body mapping pressure system called Tactilus is enabling designers at the US-based Sensor Products to develop new vests and carriage systems that optimally distribute the load that soldiers carry. The company?s director of industrial design, Daniel Massam, says, ?To enable soldiers to perform their duties with more comfort and less fatigue, we are designing body armour systems that eliminate hot spots of excessive pressure during typical activities.? The pressure mapping sensor system shows any pressure points that develop, not just when soldiers stand in place but also when they perform ballistic motions?such as jumping, running quickly, turning, crouching or crawling on their stomach.
Another American company called NanoMech has been awarded a contract worth $3,50,000 for the development of new, nano-engineered materials for body armour. Nano-engineered materials are likely to increase the strength-to-weight ratio, allowing armour systems to maintain their effectiveness in stopping projectiles and fragmentation from explosives.
Several years ago, the thinnest and lightest bulletproof vests in the market were made from a material called Zylon. As it turned out, the high performance fabric was unstable when moist and would deteriorate gradually with exposure to sweat and humidity. This led to a massive recall of all vests containing the flawed material.
MKU, a leading defence major, launched at the recently concluded Defexpo its advanced ballistic over vest. The company, which is hardselling Instavest over vest to the Indian armed forces, says the body armour comes with advanced features and an innovative design to offer enhanced protection and comfort to the user. MKU director Neeraj Gupta informs that the company has filed a patent for its product, which will change the way soldiers perceive and use body armour. Instavest?s on and off is so simple that a person can take-off the vest in less than a second in a single action and then reassemble and put it back on in less than 45 seconds. The vest has been designed keeping in mind the quick release function, which is the specification with some of the advanced armies in the world.
Interestingly, MKU claims that this is the first vest which uses no metal parts in the system to avoid injuries due to secondary fragments. It features a new advance load distribution and a rifle butt rest system for added comfort, adds Gupta.
Typically, the present-day versions of body armour are composed mostly of 20 to 30 layers of synthetic fibres. The gear is bulky and is unable to stop high-velocity bullets, for example, or bomb fragments. Even as DuPont was field-testing the original Kevlar jackets in the early 1970s, researchers were hunting for lighter, tougher ballistic fabrics.
Since then, companies have investigated a chemist?s kit of exotic materials, from cloned spider silk to new fangled sheets of carbon nanotubes that are among the toughest structures in nature. Israeli researchers at one company, ApNano Materials in New York, have shown off a breastplate of nanometals said to be five times as strong as steel. Some types of traditional Kevlar vests protect well against bullets and are used by the military and police officers, while other types are more effective against pointed objects and are worn by prison guards, who are more likely to be stabbed than shot.
DuPont India is pursuing a two-pronged strategy with the Indian defence, paramilitary and the police, involving both short-term sales and long-term strategic business opportunities. As part of the short-term sales initiative, the team is pursuing sales opportunities for Kevlar bullet-resistant armours (primarily vests) for the defence sector of the government. The long term business strategy focuses on developing applications with DuPont materials for a variety of ballistic, vehicle armouring and emergency response solutions. Moreover, nanotechnologists have come up with a super strong, flexible fibre that can conduct heat and electricity. It could be made into a modern version of chain mail, the heavy metal mesh worn by medieval knights. If woven from the new fibre, modern chain mail could be light as a cotton shirt, but bulletproof.
Among others, BAE Systems is working on weight reduction and the company?s ultra lightweight warrior (ULW) programme is focused on trying to find ways to decrease weight for the soldier. Previously, the company developed an improved outer tactical vest (IOTV) for the US Army, which took 25-30% of the weight off the previous vest. BAE Systems? programme seeks to gain an additional 20-30% in weight savings across four areas: helmets, soft vests, plates and load-carriage equipment.
With the Indian security personnel heavily engaged in operations, the range of threats, from small arms to artillery to improvised explosive devices, is growing. Luckily, technology for body wear is developing quickly to stay ahead.