The operating system
for the armor industry.
State-by-state body armor compliance, live NIJ standard tracking, BVP grant deadlines, and a verified community of chiefs, FSOs, and dealers.Free to search. Free to join.
- states + DC
- 51 states + DC
- manufacturers
- 478 manufacturers
- dealers
- 50 dealers
- standards
- 32 standards
US Body Armor Law by State
All 50 states + DC. Statute citations, tier classification, shipping rules, and civilian purchase eligibility. Body armor only — helmets and shields aren't state-regulated.
Standards reference
NIJ, ASTM, MIL-STD, and ACH ballistic standards for body armor, shields, and helmets. Threat levels, revision history, certified-products linkage.
Certified products (NIJ CPL)
Browsable NIJ Compliant Products List — body armor, shields, helmets — filterable by level, status, manufacturer. Delisting + supersession alerts.
Ballistic helmets
NIJ 0106, ACH-GEN-II, MIL-DTL 44050, and VPAM helmet standards — threat levels, adoption context, and test methodology for every helmet spec that shows up in LE and federal procurement.
Ballistic shields
NIJ 0108.01, ASTM E3141 (test method), ASTM E3347 (LE shield specification), and MIL-STD-662F — the modern standards stack for hand-held LE shields.
BVP grant cycle tracker
Deadlines, NOFO releases, award announcements. Alerts when your state's cycle opens.
Dealer directory
Authorized distributors across the major manufacturers — most stock body armor, helmets, and shields. State-filtered, source-cited from procurement contracts.
Regulatory briefs
Automated monitoring of state legislatures, Congress, Federal Register, and the NIJ CPL. New briefs published the moment something changes.
Verified industry community
Chiefs, procurement officers, FSOs, dealers, and manufacturers — credentials verified, identities protected. Peer-to-peer, no astroturf.
Latest from the brief feed
Short-form regulatory intelligence, updated as we detect change.
NIJ CPL de-listing: Manufacturer 2102 SW 2nd Street, Pompano Beach, FL 33069 (Level PACA Body Armor)
MFG news: Gentex Corporation Secures Third Year Option on its Advanced Combat Helmet Generation II Contract Worth $38.4 Million
Foreign Weapons, Body Armor and Ammo
Ballistic Helmets & Accessories
MFG news: AS-200 Ballistic Helmet
NOTICE of Intent to SOLE SOURCE - Spectral Dynamics Maintenance
Top guides
Long-form references the community uses most — state compliance, NIJ standards, BVP, procurement.
How Ceramic Strike Faces Are Made — Pressing, Sintering, Tile Arrays
Ceramic strike-face manufacturing — pressing, sintering, tile array vs monolithic — is more expensive and finicky than the chemistry of the ceramic itself suggests. This guide covers the two dominant production paths, why boron carbide is still expensive, and what the ceramic suppliers (3M, Morgan, CoorsTek) actually do differently.
Prepreg vs Dry-Fabric Lamination — How Body Armor Panels Are Built
Soft-armor panels are built from either pre-impregnated composite fabric or dry ballistic fabric plus a separate resin step. This guide covers the two methods, the suppliers (Barrday, JPS, Hexcel), and the tradeoffs that drive OEM construction choices.
Zylon — The Body Armor Failure Case That Reshaped NIJ Standards
In 2005 the Second Chance body-armor recall exposed rapid degradation of PBO (Zylon) fiber under real-world UV and moisture conditions. This guide covers what went wrong, what NIJ did in response, and why the Zylon lesson still shapes modern body-armor engineering.
Domestic vs Imported Fiber Sourcing — Practical Procurement Strategy
LE body-armor procurement doesn't legally require domestic fiber (that's Berry Amendment, which is DoD-scope). But several practical drivers push some agencies toward domestic sourcing anyway. This guide covers when that matters and how to write it into an RFP.
Ballistic Ceramics — Alumina vs Silicon Carbide vs Boron Carbide
Hard armor plates use ceramic strike faces to fracture bullets before they reach the fiber catch layer. Three ceramic families dominate — alumina, silicon carbide, and boron carbide. This guide covers weight, cost, and performance tradeoffs and the suppliers behind each.
Aramid Fibers — Kevlar vs Twaron vs Heracron
Para-aramid fibers founded modern body armor — DuPont's Kevlar (1971) and Teijin's Twaron led the market before UHMWPE emerged. This guide compares the four major para-aramid suppliers (DuPont, Teijin, Hyosung, Kolon) and where each is used today.
UHMWPE Fibers — Dyneema vs Spectra in Body Armor
UHMWPE (Dyneema, Spectra) has displaced aramid in many body-armor applications since the 2000s. This guide covers how the fiber works, why Avient and Honeywell dominate supply, and the grades that matter (SK78, SK99, Force Multiplier, Spectra Shield).
Body Armor Supply Chain — The Complete ArmorOS Guide
The body-armor industry rests on a thin, globally consolidated supply chain — a handful of fiber producers (DuPont Kevlar, Avient Dyneema, Honeywell Spectra), ceramic suppliers (Morgan, CoorsTek), and prepreg makers. This guide maps the upstream supply chain that determines what every OEM can actually build.
Berry Amendment + Body Armor — What DoD Actually Requires
The Berry Amendment requires DoD to buy clothing, fabric, and body armor from domestic sources. This guide covers what "domestic" means in practice for body armor fiber, prepreg, ceramic, and finished armor — and where the pitfalls are.
Plate Carrier vs Concealable Vest — Mission-Fit Tradeoffs
Concealable soft-armor vests and plate carriers are not interchangeable. This guide covers mission-fit tradeoffs — patrol comfort and discretion vs rifle-threat readiness — and how most US LE agencies field both in a tiered deployment posture.
NIJ 0106 — The US Ballistic Helmet Standard Explained
NIJ 0106 is the primary US civil-sector ballistic-helmet certification. This guide covers its three handgun-only threat levels (I, IIA, II), why the standard doesn't address rifle threats, and why most LE procurement specifications pair it with military ACH-GEN-II.
Body Armor Care + Retirement — What the Care Label Actually Means
Fielded body armor has a usable life shaped by UV, heat, moisture, and impact events. This guide covers the ASTM F3115 care-label signals, inspection intervals, when to retire a vest, and how to handle a BFS shot without re-certification.
Featured manufacturers
A sample of the OEMs on the site — body armor, helmets, shields. Editorial ordering; no pay-for-placement.
Point Blank Enterprises, Inc.
Pompano Beach, FL
body armorhelmetshieldSafariland, LLC
Jacksonville, FL
body armorhelmetshieldArmor Express
Eden, NC
body armorshieldTeam Wendy, LLC
Cleveland, OH
helmetGentex Corporation (Ops-Core)
Carbondale, PA
helmetAvon Protection
helmetAngel Armor
Fort Collins, CO
shieldbody armorGalvion (formerly Revision Military)
Essex Junction, VT
helmetArmorSource LLC
Hebron, OH
helmet
Latest in the community
What chiefs, procurement officers, FSOs, and dealers are asking right now.
Built for the people who wear the armor — and the people who buy it for them.
ArmorOS is manufacturer-neutral. We cover every US body-armor OEM (Point Blank, Safariland, Armor Express, GH Armor, Survival Armor, United Shield) alongside helmet and shield makers (Team Wendy, Gentex / Ops-Core, 3M Ceradyne, Revision, Galvion) — equally. No sponsored rankings. No pay-for-placement. The verified industry badge is earned, not bought.