Armour 'failed' dead NI soldier?

He said while the equipment L/Cpl Flowers was given offered only limited protection, it was the best available.





L/Cpl Flowers and his colleagues had been working on a Warrior vehicle at Basra Palace compound at the time of his death.





He was killed when a shell landed a few metres from him as he went to fetch a generator.





He was found face-down wearing a half-undone standard combat body armour vest.





Will there ever be a light enough armour to protect a soldier from everything thrown at him? what do you think ?





http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/north...

Armour 'failed' dead NI soldier?
Paddy, in my opinion its a trade off, a complete system that protects from bullets and shrapnel but leaves one restricted in mobility, which in itself is a danger.





A lot of the gear being worn is designed to take the sting out of small pieces of shrapnel or debris being propelled by the initial explosion, its wrong to believe this type of vest is bullet proof as its not.





"He was found face-down wearing a half-undone standard combat body armour vest."





By not having the vest properly fastened, this might have some contribution to his wounds and death??





But it also depends on what's being fired at you, the soldier lost his life to shell fire, again it depends on what calibre a round impacts, for example a direct or near miss by 105mm 155mm or bigger, there is nothing out there that can fully protect. The same goes for RPG and Mortar fire.





The size of I.E.D. being encountered daily in Iraq show that a flack Jacket is useless if you are in the immediate blast path.





Back in the 1980s I opened up an Irish Army issue, Vietnam era flack-jacket to find its was composed of tightly wrapped flat plastic packets, there was no ceramic plates or kevlar in those days.





And never forget that most military contracts go to the lowest bidder hence a low quality product, in the mid 1990s the Irish military had a new type of vest made by the same firm that made items for the R.U.C. same style but vastly different in quality all because it was based upon the cost per item that was being paid per item by the different countries.
Reply:No I don't believe there will ever be an armor kit to protect a soldier from everything.





There has been an arms race between protective armor and weapons that can defeat it since man first started fighting.





Clubs were met with thicker and hardened animal skins;





Those skins were defeated by spears with sharpened wood points





Wicker and soon defeated the wooden point spear





And so it has been going on for centuries





Flintlocks spelled the doom of the armored knights





The bullet proof vest has lead to armor piercing bullets





Steel helmets are replaced by kevlar to minimize fragmenting munitions





Mine resistant boots are defeated by more powerful modern explosives





Even for the individual war has always been about gaining enough of an advantage to win.
Reply:At some point there will be a body armor system that will protect a soldier a lot better than the current but there will never be an armor system that will protect a soldier from everything. If they can figure out a way to make a near impenetrable vest %26amp; helmet, that will save many lives but they also need to get working on a body armor system that protects the limbs %26amp; that is light enough %26amp; not bulky. I say in the next 10 years we will have a body armor system that will protect much more of the body than just a vest %26amp; helmet. But than again their will most likely be weapons to negate the armor cause that's the process of warfare technology. Someone creates better protection, than some creates a better weapon.
Reply:There will naturally be advancements in armour technology but never at the pace that weapons and other tricks to injure and kill other people are thought up.
Reply:Unfortunately, our equipment is made by the lowest bidder.





Hopefully, eventually, we will have equipment that is equal to the task.

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