Library
Manufacturer-neutral reference content for body armor procurement professionals. New briefs published automatically when regulatory monitoring agents detect a material change.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.