PROTECH announced the introduction of a new level IV hard armor plate that conforms to NIJ-06 body armor standards. The new 10″x12″ plate runs 7.5 pounds and is a little more than one inch thick. It has a “shooter’s cut” allowing for easier shooting while wearing the plate.
Level IV plates have to defeat multiple hits from an .30-06 M2 armor piercing round. That round is no joke, and carries significantly more bang than what an AR or AK can throw at you. What is even more impressive about these plates is that the standardized testing showed the plate far exceeded the NIJ requirements.
There is a testing concept that measures the performance using a 50% penetration standard, or V50. Without diving too deeply into how the testing is done, and I’m not an expert anyway, up to 50% of the rounds can penetrate the plate and it meet standard. This is because of all of the variables that go into the testing.
Regardless, the new PROTECH plate had zero penetrations. In fact, there were no penetrations of the plate even when driving the armor piercing rounds more than 600 feet per second (fps) beyond the reference velocity. That is serious protection.
“The 2230 is, by far, the most advanced Type IV hard armor plate that we’ve ever developed.” said Dan McNeil, Category Director for PROTECH Tactical Armor.
The plate is a mix or ceramic and aramid materials. It also uses a proprietary blunt force reduction technology.
PROTECH is part of the Safariland Group. The model number for this plate is #2230. The plate is available now, but I do not have an MSRP.