Ballistic standards for body armor, shields, and helmets
The authoritative US standards for Personal Protection armor — NIJ, ASTM, MIL-STD, MIL-DTL, and ACH — alongside internationally-relevant HP-White, UK HOSDB, and European VPAM. Click a standard for threat levels, adoption timeline, and linked certified products.
NIJ3 standards
- NIJ0123.00rev. 2023-Addendum-2
NIJ Standard 0123.00 Addendum 2
Velocity-range and methodology clarifications to 0123.00.
Body armorHelmetShield - NIJ0123.00rev. 2023
Specification for NIJ Ballistic Protection Levels and Associated Test Threats
Standalone specification factoring all threat-level definitions (HG1, HG2, RF1, RF2, RF3) out of equipment-specific standards. Referenced by NIJ 0101.07 and future NIJ helmet/shield revisions.
Body armorHelmetShield - NIJ0123.00rev. 2023-Addendum-1
NIJ Standard 0123.00 Addendum 1
Clarification / methodology update to the 0123.00 threat-level specification.
Body armorHelmetShield
MIL-STD1 standard
MIL-DTL1 standard
ACH1 standard
VPAM2 standards
- VPAMAPR 2006rev. 2006
VPAM APR Body Armor Standard
Vereinigung der Prüfstellen für angriffshemmende Materialien — the European ballistic-testing association's standard for body armor. Threat classes 1–9 covering handgun through rifle AP. Common in EU police procurement and relevant for US OEMs exporting to European LE.
Body armorHelmetShield - VPAMHVN 2009rev. 2009
VPAM Helmet Standard
VPAM companion standard governing ballistic helmets. Threat levels aligned with VPAM APR. Used in European LE and increasingly in US multinational contracts.
Helmet
Each standard page links out to the authoritative issuing body (NIJ, ASTM, DoD DLA, etc.) so the source is always one click away. We do not reproduce standard documents verbatim — we publish editorial summaries, threat-level tables, adoption context, and product-certification linkage. If you need the exact language of a spec, follow the source link.