New classification of body armor. Classification of personal armor protection

Following the progress, the armor also evolved and from woven, wooden, leather and others today turned into the most reliable and even "absolute" armor - bulletproof vests. So, the best of the best! From what and how can they protect?

Developed in the Russian Federation back in 2000, today "Dublon" is the most reliable armored suit, even in comparison with imported analogues. Constantly improving this armor, the manufacturer (JSC "NII Stali") achieved excellent results as a result. "Dublon" consists of more than 50 titanium armor elements, providing protection not only to the body, but also to the arms, legs and face. In addition to AK and SVD bullets, it is also capable of protecting against an explosion with a power of up to 0.5 kg (in TNT). Of course, such a high level of bulletproof and fragmentation protection also has its own quite understandable minus - weight. ZKS weighs more than 40 kg.

Not having a "beautiful" name, this product of domestic specialists is quite worthy of the first number on our list. It is guaranteed to protect both from bullets of 7.62 caliber (AK) and from snipers (SVD), there is no need to talk about “attempts”. Combat bayonet? This is not a problem for body armor - it will withstand a blow with a force of 45 J. It protects the chest, back and sides with special composite armor. In addition, it is equipped with additional armor elements for the neck, forearms, hips and groin. The fabric of the BKZ cover is mechanically strong, waterproof and non-flammable. Total weight - 12 kg. It is possible to list all its technical features for a very long time, and in short - BKZ is one of the best!

Body armor of this type is widely used by the US Army. A distinctive feature of the "Interceptor" is a coating of a unique ballistic fabric material "tweron". A cover made of this material made it possible to reduce its weight by 18-20% (depending on the configuration) without compromising bullet resistance. This bulletproof vest is able to protect against NATO standard bullets (9*19), and with additional armor plates - against bullets of 7.62 caliber (AK). The mass of the "Interceptor" -11.4 kg. According to the American classification of body armor, this product is one of the best due to its ergonomics and, in fact, reliability. But, as it turned out, Russian standards are somewhat more demanding and stricter, so our “American” is 3rd.

One of the latest developments. Special forces officers characterize this product as highly effective protection with increased bullet resistance and, most importantly, comfort. Designed for special forces that come into direct fire contact. The modular design of the Rosich is not something new today - almost all modern body armor has the ability to add elements for additional protection, but at the same time, the Rosich weighs only 6.5 kg, which allows the fighter to move much more freely.

And again - the product comes from the USA. Since 2009, he began to enter the Armed Forces of NATO countries. The main features of this bulletproof vest are: an increased area of anti-fragmentation protection, a quick release system (required, for example, when a soldier is injured or falls into a body of water), as well as the installation of side protection elements without additional modules. The design allows you to evenly distribute the weight of the vest between the muscles of the abdomen and back, and not on the shoulders. Despite this, since 2011, the US Army has been considering supplementing or replacing this product with some other one, due to the heavy weight of the bulletproof vest. In a complete set and a large size, its weight reaches 16 kg, which is considered too large and negatively affects the mobility of a soldier.

Adopted by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 2010. Protection class A, B. It will protect the soldier both at long and short distances, from conventional bullets and from armor-piercing ones. It can be used in all climatic zones at temperatures from -50 to +50 ° C inclusive! At the same time, the mass varies, as with all similar products - from 4.5 to 15 kg. Just like imported samples, it is equipped with a quick release system. In general, at the level, if not higher! Why 6th place? According to experts' practical estimates, there is one significant flaw: different adjustments for standing and sitting positions, which is not only inconvenient, but simply impractical - you have to constantly "pull up" the bulletproof vest or, conversely, "let go". This omission, apparently, will still be corrected.

In fact, this Western sample (with such a "musical" name) is an earlier version of IOTV. But today it is still in service with the US Armed Forces and NATO. Protects against fragments and bullets of caliber 9 * 19 (class 3a according to Western standards), and when installing additional composite armor elements, and from automatic and rifle bullets. Its weight is 14 kg. Also, the design provides the soldier with some comfort, more effectively distributing the mass over the upper body.

The next domestic sample is intended for both the army and the police personnel. In various trim levels, the Cuirass is classified according to protection from the 2nd to the 6th class. The design is not burdened with complex elements or experimental developments - everything is extremely simple. This is the beauty of this sample. The armor panels of the Cuirass are made of special armor steel and ceramics, providing reliable all-round protection for the entire torso. The shape of the armor panels and convenient fasteners provide a simple adjustment of the body armor to the body. The total weight of the product is 14 kg.

9 Dragon Skin

Such an interesting name was given to a new development of an American company for an unusual approach to protection for bulletproof vests. The armor consists of ceramic discs with a diameter of 5 cm and a thickness of 6 mm, arranged in relation to each other like chain mail. During the tests, the “Dragon Skin” withstood several dozen hits from pistol, revolver bullets, and even shots from the M16 did not pierce the armored discs. A separate question on AK ... Some tests were successful, and they were made public. But there are examples from amateur tests that did not give positive results, and on the contrary, AK literally “crushed” the armor disks. The rest of the bold approach in the design gave a positive result. Weight - from 6 to 8 kg, which is also a plus.

10 "Corsair MZS"

We put this sample as the last of the body armor for outdoor wear. A striking example of increased ergonomics and ease of use with the built-in "molli" system. "Corsair" consists of 4 parts with a quick release system. The bulletproof vest cover is made of heavy-duty fabric material (the latest domestic development), due to which it has a light weight with decent bullet resistance (grades 2-4). Steel plates will hold PM and TT with a steel core. An AK bullet will not pass unless it has the same steel core. In general, the Corsair is very reliable and easy to wear. The total weight in the configurations varies, but does not exceed 8 kg.
With the advent of new materials, bulletproof vests are becoming even stronger, more reliable and lighter. We hope to read about even more advanced models soon!

Bulletproof vest is a means of individual protection of the body and the most important organs of a person, when exposed to cold and firearms, as well as fragments of ammunition. The bulletproof vest not only protects against enemy fire, but also allows you to more boldly and effectively use your own weapons.

In Russia, protective body armor is subject to a special set of requirements, which is defined by GOST R 50744-95. The total area of body armor protection should provide protection for at least 90% of the area of vital organs in the dorsal and frontal projections. The area of bulletproof armored reinforcement panels must be at least 22 dm2.

The design of the bulletproof vest consists of the following elements:

Outer case with fastening and adjustment system,

The main armor elements,

shock absorber,

Armor material as part of a shock-absorbing pad and cover.

Outer case forms the appearance of a body armor (like a poncho) and consists of chest and back parts, which are interconnected by shoulder and waist belts, allowing the body armor to be adjusted to the user's figure. This design of the bulletproof vest facilitates access to the human body in case of injury and reduces the required number of sizes, although it reduces the comfort of wearing, as well as protection from the sides. Recently, instead of adjusting belts in vests, zippers, buttons or Velcro are increasingly used. The cover material has a heat-resistant and waterproof fabric base that serves to accommodate ballistic panels. The cover can be equipped with pockets similar to the unloading vest, and items placed in its pockets can in some cases serve as additional protection.

Inside, the bulletproof vest is equipped with a shock-absorbing pad (damper) with special channels to improve ventilation and provide additional comfort to the user. In addition, such a structure of the damper reduces the armor impact of bullets and shrapnel on the human body.

* Protection of Clients' property, as well as the life and health of citizens from unlawful encroachments in Moscow and the Moscow region (private security in Moscow), using weapons, special equipment and body armor, is one of the main activities of the TAGGERD group of security companies (ChOP Moscow) .

Body armor protection classes

Bulletproof vests differ in the possibility of use, as well as in protection classes. Domestic classification according to Russian GOST R 50744-95 includes 10 classes: special, 1, 2, 2a, 3, 4, 5, 5a, 6, 6a. Moreover, the higher the class, the better and higher the level of protection. Classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6a represent the level of protection against pistol and rifle bullets of rifled weapons. At the same time, protection of a certain class implies protection from the means defined by smaller classes, that is, protection from any lesser threat relative to that for which the bulletproof vest is designed. PSCs mainly use 3, 4 protection classes.

0th grade(or "special") - determines the protection against edged weapons.

1st class c - protects against soft shell-free bullets of 5.6 mm, from pistol bullets of 6.35 mm "Browning", PM - at point-blank range, from buckshot and small fragments weighing up to 2-3 g, from edged weapons such as a bayonet-knife , dagger, sharpening. The protected area is 30-40 dm2, weight - 1.5-2.5 kg.

2nd grade- protects against shell bullets of pistol and revolver cartridges such as PSM, PM, TT, Nagant - point-blank range, from shot from a hunting rifle and from edged weapons. These bulletproof vests are made of 7-10 layers of fabric with a density of 6-10 kg/m2 of protected area. Weight - 3-5 kg.

3rd grade- protects against point-blank bullets from AKM and AK-74 assault rifles, from ordinary steel-core TT cartridge bullets, bullets from reinforced pistol and revolver cartridges of the Magnum type, bullets from smooth-bore hunting rifles, as well as from all types of edged weapons. Protected area - 40-60 sq.dm, protective material density - 12-15 kg/m2. There are pockets for additional plates. Weight - 6-9 kg,

4th grade- protects against bullets of the AK-74 machine gun ordinary (steel heat-strengthened) point blank, from bullets of caliber 5.45 and 7.62 mm with a soft core at a distance of 10 m. The average density of the material is up to 30 kg / sq.m. Usually, 4th class body armor is obtained from 3rd class by replacing armor elements. Weight - about 10 kg,

5th grade- protects against AKM with a PS bullet (heat-strengthened steel core, hardened steel), SVD with an LPS bullet (heat-strengthened steel core, hardened steel) at close range, AK-74 with BS (armor-piercing carbide), non-armor-piercing bullets 5.45- and 7, 62-mm cartridges at a distance of 5 m, armor-piercing - 10 m, pistol - at close range. Such models are popularly called "Anti-Kalashnikov". Material density - up to 35 kg/m2, protected area - 40-60 dm2, but can be increased by fastening the neck and groin sections. Weight - 11-20 kg.

6th grade- SVD with TUS (heat-strengthened steel), SVD with BS or B-32 (armor-piercing carbide). This class of body armor is intended mainly for special forces and law enforcement agencies.

Bulletproof vests of classes 1 and 2 are of the “flexible” (“soft”) type and are designed, as a rule, for concealed wear under clothing. The same classes include civilian samples of armored clothing, designed as fur jackets, vests, sweaters, fur coats. Bulletproof vests of 3-4 classes have plug-in "hard" armor elements and a shock-absorbing lining (damper) that dampens dynamic impact. There are also NIBs with a differentiated level of protection.

The damaging properties of weapons and ammunition when it hits a person dressed in body armor, according to the nature of the impact, are divided into penetrating and dynamic. Penetrating lesions are formed when a bullet enters the body. Dynamic - from a blow to the body due to a sharp stop of the bullet by the shield of the vest.

The reliability of body armor is mainly determined by two criteria: the ability to prevent or reduce to a safe penetrating and dynamic lesions, as they can be traumatic and deadly.

There are 3 levels of damage to body armor:
- Maximum allowable (PD) - the vest is not pierced by a bullet, but the fabric of the vest, together with the bullet, is introduced into the body, or is pierced by a bullet at the end, i.e. with loss of lethal force.
- Medium (C) - the vest is not pierced by a bullet, its fabric does not penetrate into the body.
- Minimum (M) - the vest is not pierced by a bullet, its fabric is not embedded in the body.

The dynamic impact of a bullet on a person using a bulletproof vest in all cases is reduced to a safe level by increasing the area of its perception and / or the time the bullet stops.

For bulletproof vests, 4 main sizes are installed (chest girth / height):
- 1st - 96-104 cm / up to 176 cm,
- 2nd - 104-112 cm / 176-182 cm,
- 3rd -112-120 cm / over 182 cm,
- 4th - 120-130 cm / St. 182 cm

The whole variety of protective materials used in body armor can be divided into 5 types:
- textile (woven) armor;
- metal armor;
- ceramic armor;
- composite armor;
- combined armor.

In accordance with the materials used, the design of the body armor can be "hard" (hard), "soft" or combined. Most often, the NIB uses a combined type of armor, consisting of solid parts of the structure - metal plates and soft armor, which is fabric packages (body armor).

Armored vests of soft design consist of protective packages based on 15-30 layers of ballistic fabric made of super-strong and light aramid fibers (such as Nomex, Kevlar, Terlon, SVM). Such a bulletproof vest provides satisfactory protection only against low-energy striking elements (ordinary bullets of pistol cartridges of low power) and edged bladed weapons. The threads in aramid fabrics are pulled out under the influence of a bullet and due to its high breaking energy, extinguishing its speed and holding it in the body armor. In this case, there is always no ricochet and fragments are not formed. However, many experts are not very happy with the effectiveness of the protection of vests made of aramid fibers, and with good reason.

Bulletproof vests of a rigid (solid) design are used to protect against more powerful striking elements - fragments and bullets with greater kinetic energy. The design of such NIB has, in addition to the "soft" component, hard armor - special armor plates, consisting of alloys of steel, titanium, aluminum, manganese, ceramics, ultra-high-modulus polyethylene (UHMWPE), nanomaterials. The armor elements are overlapped in special anti-fragmentation anti-ricochet pockets, from which they can be easily removed and inserted into others, thereby changing the protection class of the body armor. The most massive protective (ballistic) packages are able to withstand ordinary bullets of modern machine guns (assault rifles) chambered for 5.45 x 39, 5.56 x 45, 7.62 x 39 when firing at close range (tens of meters).

Metal armor elements are usually made of steel "44" with a thickness of:

for the 1st class - 1mm, for the 2nd class - 2.4mm, for the 3rd class - 4.3mm, for the 4th class - 5.8mm, for the 5th class - 6.5mm, for 6 th class - 15mm.

The two-fold difference between the 2nd and 3rd classes in thickness is determined by the fact that the 2nd class protects against a TT pistol with an energy of 508 J, and the 3rd class protects against AKM, the muzzle energy of which is almost 4 times greater with the same caliber. The difference is more than 2 times whiter in thickness between grades 5 and 6 due to the fact that an ordinary SVD bullet breaks when it hits a steel plate, and an armor-piercing one pierces. Therefore, to protect against small arms TUS and BS, steel as the front layer of protection is not effective and ceramics are used instead, when hit by a bullet, it first flattens, and then tries to push through the steel plate.

Depending on the degree of protection and the armor materials used, bulletproof vests also have different weights. According to the mass, bulletproof vests are divided into light (up to 5 kg), medium (5-10 kg) and heavy (over 11 kg).

The main disadvantages of body armor

Certified NIBs must ensure that injuries, when hit by bullets of their class, will not be fatal. Russian GOST requires that injuries do not exceed the 2nd degree of severity, i.e. the man received nothing more than a serious bruise. However, no body armor provides one hundred percent protection against more serious injuries and damage. For example, when hit by a bullet that exceeds the NIB protection class, a situation is possible when the body armor will stop the bullet, but the person will receive fatal injuries. From a strong impact of a bullet on a bulletproof vest, a person can lose consciousness, get serious concussion injuries and even lead to death. A dynamic impact from a medium caliber bullet can knock a person down. And if a bullet hits the chest, solar plexus or heart, then the force of the blow can lead to not only bruises and bruises, but also to fractures of one or more ribs and even death.

Parts of deformed bullets, fragments of a ballistic package, as well as any parts that are torn off when a bullet or fragment hits a bulletproof vest, which can ricochet a person into any open part of the body, are also dangerous.

In addition to these shortcomings, most bulletproof vests have problems with armor or behind-the-barrier bullet displacement. Armor offset appears when a bullet hits a bulletproof vest. According to Russian standards, this displacement should not exceed 20 millimeters. According to experts, in many cases of death, if there were no body armor and if the bullet had not hit vital organs, the person would have survived. It is not uncommon for an AK-74 or M16 rifle bullet to punch through body armor, change direction and go through the entire body. Even if the vest does not penetrate, but the armor bends inward, this can cause serious concussion injuries, even death.

By the way, the latest bullets with a core of increased hardness, as well as Teflon-coated bullets, can penetrate any of the known types of bulletproof vests that are not equipped with special additional protection. And almost no modern bulletproof vest can protect against armor-piercing bullets of rifle and machine-gun cartridges when firing at close range. This is the limit for body armor, because. in addition to the increased mass of special equipment, the impulse from the absorbed energy becomes unbearable for a person.

Cause serious criticism of specialists and materials used in the NIB. The main disadvantage of aramid fabrics is that their protective ability drops sharply with increasing speed of the penetrating element. They practically do not protect against bullets and fragments flying at a speed of over 500 m / s, although they are extremely effective against secondary fragments and slowly flying elements. A serious disadvantage of aramid fabrics is that they pass sharp thin elements between the fibers, such as a stylet, sharpening, awl, etc., which easily pierce almost any number of layers of aramid fabric. Also, the disadvantages of armid fiber include the fact that the material loses its properties when wet. Aramid fibers, by themselves, absorb moisture, while losing up to 40% of their strength, which weakens the protection. Only quite recently, fabrics began to be impregnated with various resins (epoxy, polyester).

Bulletproof vest is a means of individual protection of the body and the most important organs of a person, when exposed to cold and firearms, as well as fragments of ammunition. The bulletproof vest not only protects against enemy fire, but also allows you to more boldly and effectively use your own weapons.

The design of the bulletproof vest consists of the following elements:
- outer cover with fastening and adjustment system,
- main armor elements,
- cushion pad
- armor material as part of a shock-absorbing pad and cover.

The outer cover forms the appearance of the body armor (like a poncho) and consists of the chest and back parts, which are interconnected by shoulder and waist straps, allowing the body armor to be adjusted to the user's figure. This design of the bulletproof vest facilitates access to the human body in case of injury and reduces the required number of sizes, although it reduces the comfort of wearing, as well as protection from the sides. Recently, instead of adjusting belts in vests, zippers, buttons or Velcro are increasingly used. The cover material has a heat-resistant and waterproof fabric base that serves to accommodate ballistic panels. The cover can be equipped with pockets similar to the unloading vest, and items placed in its pockets can in some cases serve as additional protection.

Body armor protection classes

0th class (or "special") - determines the protection against edged weapons.

1st class - protects against soft shell-free bullets 5.6 mm, against pistol bullets 6.35 mm "Browning", PM - at close range, from buckshot and small fragments weighing up to 2-3 g, from edged weapons such as bayonet-knife, dagger, sharpening. The protected area is 30-40 dm2, weight - 1.5-2.5 kg.

2nd class - protects against shell bullets of pistol and revolver cartridges such as PSM, PM, TT, Nagant - point-blank range, from shot from a hunting rifle and from edged weapons. These bulletproof vests are made of 7-10 layers of fabric with a density of 6-10 kg/m2 of protected area. Weight - 3-5 kg.

3rd class - protects against point-blank bullets from AKM and AK-74 assault rifles, from ordinary bullets of a TT cartridge with a steel core, bullets from reinforced pistol and revolver cartridges of the Magnum type, bullets from smooth-bore hunting rifles, as well as from all types of edged weapons. Protected area - 40-60 sq.dm, protective material density - 12-15 kg/m2. There are pockets for additional plates. Weight - 6-9 kg,

4th class - protects against bullets of the AK-74 machine gun ordinary (steel heat-strengthened) at close range, from bullets of caliber 5.45 and 7.62 mm with a soft core at a distance of 10 m. The average density of the material is up to 30 kg / sq.m. . Usually, 4th class body armor is obtained from 3rd class by replacing armor elements. Weight - about 10 kg,

5th class - protects against AKM with a PS bullet (heat-strengthened steel core, hardened steel), SVD with an LPS bullet (heat-strengthened steel core, hardened steel) at close range, AK-74 with BS (armor-piercing carbide), non-armor-piercing bullets 5.45 - and 7.62-mm cartridges at a distance of 5 m, armor-piercing - 10 m, pistol - at close range. Such models are popularly called "Anti-Kalashnikov". Material density - up to 35 kg/m2, protected area - 40-60 dm2, but can be increased by fastening the neck and groin sections. Weight - 11-20 kg.

6th class - SVD with TUS (heat-strengthened steel), SVD with BS or B-32 (armor-piercing carbide). This class of body armor is intended mainly for special forces and law enforcement agencies.

The reliability of bulletproof vests is mainly determined by two criteria: the ability to prevent or reduce penetrating and dynamic injuries to a safe level, since they can be traumatic and deadly.

There are 3 levels of damage to body armor:
- Maximum allowable (PD) - the vest is not pierced by a bullet, but the fabric of the vest, together with the bullet, is introduced into the body, or is pierced by a bullet at the end, i.e. with loss of lethal force.
- Medium (C) - the vest is not pierced by a bullet, its fabric does not penetrate into the body.
- Minimum (M) - the vest is not pierced by a bullet, its fabric is not embedded in the body.

The dynamic impact of a bullet on a person using a bulletproof vest in all cases is reduced to a safe level by increasing the area of its perception and / or the time the bullet stops.

For bulletproof vests, 4 main sizes are installed (chest girth / height):
- 1st - 96-104 cm / up to 176 cm,
- 2nd - 104-112 cm / 176-182 cm,
- 3rd -112-120 cm / over 182 cm,
- 4th - 120-130 cm / St. 182 cm

The whole variety of protective materials used in body armor can be divided into 5 types:
- textile (woven) armor;
- metal armor;
- ceramic armor;
- composite armor;
- combined armor.

In accordance with the materials used, the body armor design can be "hard" (hard), "soft" or a combination. Most often, the NIB uses a combined type of armor, consisting of solid parts of the structure - metal plates and soft armor, which is fabric packages (body armor).

Bulletproof vests of a soft design consist of protective packages based on 15-30 layers of ballistic fabric made of super-strong and light aramid fibers (such as Nomex, Kevlar, Terlon, SVM). Such a bulletproof vest provides satisfactory protection only against low-energy striking elements (ordinary bullets of pistol cartridges of low power) and edged bladed weapons. The threads in aramid fabrics are pulled out under the influence of a bullet and due to its high breaking energy, extinguishing its speed and holding it in the body armor. In this case, there is always no ricochet and fragments are not formed. However, many experts are not very happy with the effectiveness of the protection of vests made of aramid fibers, and with good reason.

Bulletproof vests of a rigid (solid) design are used to protect against more powerful damaging elements - fragments and bullets with greater kinetic energy. The design of such NIB has, in addition to the "soft" component, hard armor - special armor plates, consisting of alloys of steel, titanium, aluminum, manganese, ceramics, ultra-high-modulus polyethylene (UHMWPE), nanomaterials. The armor elements are overlapped in special anti-fragmentation anti-ricochet pockets, from which they can be easily removed and inserted into others, thereby changing the protection class of the body armor. The most massive protective (ballistic) packages are able to withstand ordinary bullets of modern machine guns (assault rifles) chambered for 5.45 x 39, 5.56 x 45, 7.62 x 39 when firing at close range (tens of meters).

Metal armor elements are usually made of steel "44" with a thickness of:
for the 1st class - 1mm, for the 2nd class - 2.4mm, for the 3rd class - 4.3mm, for the 4th class - 5.8mm, for the 5th class - 6.5mm, for 6 th class - 15mm.

Depending on the degree of protection and the armor materials used, bulletproof vests also have different weights. By weight, bulletproof vests are divided into light (up to 5 kg), medium (5-10 kg) and heavy (over 11 kg).

The main disadvantages of body armor

Bulletproof vests of classes 3, 4, 5, 5a, 6, 6a, protecting against army long-barreled rifled small arms according to GOST RF

(from assault rifles, machine guns and rifles of caliber no more than 7.62 mm)

We have already talked about bulletproof vests of the 1st and 2nd protection classes, talked about bulletproof vests of special classes, such as a special class that protects against edged weapons, and a special class 2a that protects against shots from smoothbore weapons up to 12 gauge inclusive. They also gave a general overview of body armor in general.

In this material, we will combine bulletproof vests of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 5a, 6th and 6a protection classes. This decision was made for the reason that all bulletproof vests of the listed classes are designed to protect against bullets from military small arms, or rather from machine guns, rifles and machine guns, the most common in the post-Soviet space and with a caliber of no more than 7.62 mm. The fundamental differences of each of these classes mainly determine the ammunition used, and not the weapon, and not even the calibers and types of cartridges, the determining factor is the type of bullet. Domestic GOST, which classifies body armor, gave this category as many as six classes, which is simply inappropriate, because often the differences between one class and another are so unsteady that it’s not worth talking about a certain class. The most adequate solution to the problem would be to divide this entire list into two, maximum three classes, and this would be correct. But experts from the Research Institute of Steel decided otherwise, assigning each combined arms cartridge used in the army its own protection class. They know better, they are professionals, and the state gave them the right to determine this GOST, and we will just try to understand this ikebana and consider it from the point of view of expediency. We will also draw parallels and note the weakest points in each of these protection classes, or rather, in body armor corresponding to these classes. This approach will help us to more clearly imagine the real possibilities of body armor and, perhaps, this work will help someone make the only right decision in a critical situation or prevent a fatal mistake.

Based on considerations of reasonable sufficiency, in no country in the world is the army armed with personal armor protection (PIB) capable of withstanding bullets from large-caliber rifles and machine guns, such calibers as 12.7 mm (caliber 50 according to American classification), which used by almost all the armies of the world. Information slipped (I don’t know how true it is) that attempts were made to create such a body armor, or rather an armored complex, but they ended in complete failure. The developers managed to make fragmentary parts of the armor that could not penetrate from a 12.7 mm caliber rifle, they managed to install this armor on a kind of exoskeleton, consisting only of "legs" and a "backbone", because the mass of the armor was excessive and a person could be protected by such a heavy armor only with the help of mechanical devices that take the load from the legs and spine (exactly what I called a kind of exoskeleton). In addition to armor, the design also included weapons, namely an automatic rifle complex, consisting of a belt-fed machine gun mounted on an exoskeleton element (but not a large-caliber one, it was planned to use a new cartridge, and at the development stage, the base of the cartridge was 7.62x51 NATO) , an automatic rifle with variable magnification optics and a laser rangefinder and a semi-automatic grenade launcher. Also, of course, this development had a number of interesting solutions embodied in prototypes. But, firstly, such a design at cost came out approximately like an average combat vehicle (such as a domestic infantry fighting vehicle), incomparable with such a “soldier of the future” in terms of combat effectiveness, and secondly, the maneuverability of such a fighter decreased to an unacceptable level, he could not quickly turn around, lie down, sit down, etc., but he could run fast. But the run could not prevent the fighter from simply becoming a target, which can be easily hit from an anti-tank grenade launcher, which will leave no questions. And the price of a grenade launcher, even a dozen grenade launchers, of course, is an order of magnitude lower than such an armored half-robot warrior. The project was curtailed as economically and technically inexpedient (for this money it was possible to build a robot controlled remotely).

Simply put, for decades, army bulletproof vests and other personal protective equipment for the military have been made with the calculation of protection against bullets from small arms (automatic and semi-automatic rifles and carbines), and the most durable bulletproof vests - against bullets from sniper rifles of 7.62 mm caliber according to domestic and European system of calculation or "three hundredth" or "thirtieth" calibers according to the system for determining calibers adopted in the United States (in most cases). Also, body armor of high degrees of protection, designed for hits from sniper rifles, also protects against hits from single machine guns of the same or similar calibers (up to 8 mm).

Let's proceed to a detailed analysis of body armor that protects intermediate (automatic) and rifle cartridges from bullets.

So, let's start with bulletproof vests of the 3rd protection class.

GOST defines them so that they must withstand the following bullets:

Cartridge 5.45x39 mm general purpose (GRAU index - 7N6), PS bullet with a non-heat-strengthened steel core weighing 3.5 g (on average), fired from an AK74 assault rifle and flying at a speed of 900 m / s (on average). The junction of the cartridge case and the bullet is covered with a red sealing varnish.

Cartridge 7.62x39 mm general purpose (GRAU index - 57-N-231), PS bullet with a non-heat-strengthened steel core weighing 7.9 g, fired from an AKM assault rifle and flying at a speed of 725 m / s (on average).

Such bulletproof vests are honestly reliable protection against any pistol bullets fired from pistols and submachine guns, with the exception of special pistol cartridges 9x21 SP-10 with an armor-piercing bullet, which, according to the manufacturer, pierce bulletproof vests of the 3rd protection class at decent distances for a pistol (up to 50 meters). The "anti-automatic" protection of the 3rd class seems to be rather unsteady, at least due to the fact that these cartridges are indicated in the GOST with these bullets. But we will talk about these cartridges, their bullets and the effect of these bullets on class 3 body armor later, but now we will give a couple of examples of class 3 body armor and describe their characteristics.

One of the most advanced manufacturers of personal (and not only) body armor is the Research Institute of Steel. This enterprise offers bullet-proof vest of the 3rd class "Bulat-3".

Bullet-proof vest "Bulat-3" of the 3rd class of protection with an external cover of a complete set.

The weight of the body armor, depending on the size, ranges from 8.9 to 11.4 kg, on the outside the vest case is equipped with special pockets, a universal pistol holster (capable of accepting pistols of different sizes and models), pouches for automatic and pistol magazines, mounts for grenades and other necessary items of equipment. In the case of ordering a body armor for concealed wearing, it can be in a case without external pockets. Class 3 protection is provided on an area of 19.5 sq. decimeters with steel armor plates 4.3 mm thick. The sides are protected by class 2 on an area from 9 to 11 square meters. decimeters.

The weight of this bulletproof vest leaves some bewilderment, because bulletproof vests of higher protection classes are about the same weight, and there are also lighter ones. But here, apparently, the whole point is in the armor plates used. Steel armor elements are cheaper than any other, but at the same time lose them in weight. Therefore, body armor with steel plates is almost always heavier than similar body armor with plates made of more expensive and lighter materials that are not inferior in bullet resistance to steel armor plates (for example, titanium alloys, high-strength aluminum alloys, multilayer polymer plates, etc.).

Separately, it is worth briefly dwelling on the side protection of this body armor and body armor in general. Another reason for the relatively large weight of "Bulat-3" is the protection of the sides in class 2, which is done quite rarely. Usually the sides are closed either with thirty-layer fabric armor packages made of aramid fiber TSVZh or its more advanced analogues, protecting in class 1, or the sides are not protected in any way, there are simply elements of the fabric of the body armor cover that serve to clearly fix it on the body. Side protection according to the 2nd class is done either by double fabric packages of 30 layers each, or from one fabric armor package reinforced with a thin rigid class 1 plate made of steel, titanium alloy, aluminum alloy, high-modulus plastic, or a layer of damper, which is superimposed armor plate of the 2nd protection class, as a rule, titanium or steel. In any case, when the sides are protected according to the 2nd class, the fighter's mobility is very limited, so the most preferred option for the sides is a single fabric armor package. Not to mention the hard plates on the sides, even a double soft armor package that protects according to the 2nd class is only called soft, such armor elements make it very difficult to move the body, it is problematic to bend double packages even by hand. And if a fighter is wearing a body armor of the 3rd protection class, this by default means a preference for maximum mobility due to the relative weakness of body armor. Pointed submachine gun bullets easily pierce class 2 double fabric packs, so not everyone is ready to lose mobility for them. The double 2nd class armor package on the sides can only protect against splinters and pistol bullets.

Returning specifically to "Bulat-3", we can summarize the above by saying that this is a bulletproof vest that is heavy for its class, but reliably protects the body in a peaceful city, where rifles and machine guns are not fired so often, and pistol bullets and fragments of Bulat grenades -3" will survive. And the chest and dorsal steel armor plates will save you from standard automatic bullets with unhardened steel cores. Such bulletproof vests are suitable for collectors and police immediate response teams.

Another example of the 3rd class is the Sphere-3 body armor. It is lighter than Bulat-3, weight, depending on the size, from 7.5 to 9.5 kg, the main protection consists of two steel armor plates 5 mm thick and with an area of 7.1 square meters. decimeters each, protecting the chest and back in class 3. Steel plates with a thickness of 2.5 mm and an area of 2.1 sq. decimeters, protecting class 2.

Bullet-proof vest "Sphere-3" of the 3rd class of protection.

Bulletproof vests of class 3 can be lighter and heavier, of different layouts, but the fact remains that they are much heavier than bulletproof vests of class 2 and are comparable in weight to some bulletproof vests of the 4th and even 5th class.

Bulletproof vests of class 3, as such, are not in great demand, as a rule, class 3 is one of the stages of modular body armor, that is, by changing the plates, the owner can increase protection according to the situation. Exceptionally 3rd class is ineffective, because when fired from the same weapon with other ammunition, not even special, it can be pierced, not to mention a shot from a Vintorez rifle, a Val assault rifle, or other weapons designed for the SP-6 cartridge with armor-piercing bullet of 9 mm caliber.

It is worth noting here that in the second half of the eighties of the last century, the bullet cores of the 7N6 cartridge became heat-strengthened (modernized cartridge 7N6), so it is difficult to say how class 3 bulletproof vests can withstand bullets from the 7N6 cartridge, because tests according to GOST imply a bullet with a non-heat-strengthened core . But for those and other cartridges there are no external differences, the appearance is the same, the sealing varnish at the junction of the bullet and the sleeve is red. The fact is that by loading a zinc magazine with the first version of the 7H6 cartridge, and loading another magazine from zinc of a later release of the same cartridges, it may happen that the bullets from the first magazine will leave only subtle dents on the main plate of the class 3 body armor, and bullets from the second store will sew through the front wall of the bulletproof vest (both the plate and the fabric bag). Moreover, the marking of the cartridges will be distinguishable only by the secondary digital and alphabetic index, and the main data will be the same: 5.45x39 mm, PS bullet, GRAU index - 7N6.

Bulletproof vests of the 4th class of protection.

Consider bulletproof vests of the 4th protection class to clarify the picture.

GOST requires that a class 4 bulletproof vest withstand hits by a bullet weighing 3.4-3.6 g of “increased penetration” (PP) of a 5.45x39 cartridge (GRAU index 7N10) with a heat-strengthened steel core fired from AK74 from ten meters and flying at a speed of approximately 900 m/s. The external difference between 5.45 mm cartridges with a PP bullet is the violet color of the sealing varnish at the junction of the bullet and the cartridge case.

Accordingly, the bulletproof vest must withstand both PS bullets of the 5.45x39 7N6 cartridge with a non-heat-strengthened core, and general-purpose PS bullets of the 7.62x39 cartridge with a non-heat-strengthened core, indicated by the class above, in the 3rd protection class. Also, logically, such a bulletproof vest can withstand hits from the upgraded PS bullets of the 5.45x39 (7N6) cartridge of the later series, where bullets with heat-strengthened cores (which we talked about in the topic about bulletproof vests of the 3rd class, assuming that such bullets will be their punch).

Consider the main separating stage of the 4th class - the 7N10 cartridge with a PP bullet. That is, if you load other cartridges into the machine, and not special ones, (charge 7H10 instead of 7H6), then class 3 bulletproof vest will already be 100% pierced, and there is a separate class 4 for these cartridges. There is an opinion that it would be wiser to combine these two classes, but on the other hand, if we consider class 3 bulletproof vests as guaranteed protection against pistols and submachine guns, then there is a reason for the existence of the 3rd class, only the official interpretation is somewhat off topic.

The differences between cartridges 7N6 and 7N10 mainly concerns the design of bullets.

In the photo in the section on the left is a bullet of increased penetration (PP) of the 7N10 cartridge, on the right is a bullet of the 7N6 cartridge.

As we can see, on the 7H10 cartridge pool, the cavity in the front part is reduced due to the lengthening of the core. Also, the core is sharper and was originally heat-strengthened, and the bullets of 7H6 cartridges became heat-strengthened only at the end of the 80s, after modernization.

There is one more nuance. In the early 90s, the 7N10 cartridge bullet also underwent modernization. Up to this point, the bullets had a small cavity at the tip, and when they hit a solid barrier, the shell of the bullet stopped, and the core, continuing to move, crashed into the barrier along with the shell, dragging it along with it. As a result, a fragment of the shell passed in the obstacle along with the core, sticking around its tip, which increased the working surface area of the core, increased the friction force, and worsened its penetrating ability.

And when the cavity in the modernized pool was filled with lead, the picture changed dramatically. When hitting an obstacle, the shell also stopped, the core continued to move and put pressure on the lead, which was between it and the shell. As a result, the pressure in the soft environment of lead increased, and the lead, in turn, exerted pressure on the shell of the bullet tip from the inside, trying to flatten it, because the steel core presses from behind. Under this pressure of the lead, on which the core presses from behind, the shell of the bullet tip flattens against the barrier, and the core, passing through the lead, pierces this fragment of the shell already as an ordinary sheet of thin metal, that is, the core tip is not pressed by the shell fragment, and the core works according to the barrier itself, so to speak, in its pure form, from which penetration increases significantly, compared with the option when a core with a shell fragment at the tip worked on the target.

Schematically, it looks like this (on top is the first version of the PP bullet, modernized on the bottom):

That is, we see that the armor penetration of the 7N10 cartridge bullet varies markedly, depending on the year of manufacture. If a bulletproof vest of the 4th class is tested with 7N10 cartridges issued before modernization, and then a bullet of the same 7N10 cartridge, but already modernized, gets into this bulletproof vest, then in the second case, the 4th class can be pierced. Outwardly, the cartridges are the same, the color of the sealing varnish, which lies with a rim at the place where the cartridge case passes into the bullet, is purple. The only difference is in branding, which indicates the year of issue of the cartridge.

As an example of a bulletproof vest of the 4th protection class, we will cite the army 6BZTM model of 1984, adopted by the Soviet Army in 1985. The protection of this body armor consisted of small titanium plates 6.5 mm thick and fabric armor packages made of aramid fiber, which together protect the chest and back in class 4. The mass of the body armor was quite large and amounted to 12 kg, in connection with which it was decided to lighten the weight by replacing the titanium plates protecting the back with thinner and lighter ones, 1.25 mm thick, but already protecting in the 2nd class. This lightweight body armor was named 6B3TM-01, now it protected the chest in class 4, and the back in class 2, as a result, the weight decreased significantly and amounted to about 8 kg. But this is, let's say, "the last century." Such body armor had a lot of shortcomings, and these shortcomings, growing into legends and myths, are still attributed to modern means of individual body armor, and completely unreasonably.

I'll give you a couple of examples. “When a bullet hits the chest, the body armor remains intact, but the fighter dies slowly and painfully.” Yes, when a bullet from a powerful cartridge hit the bulletproof vests of the first and, sometimes, the second generation, the bullet transmitted an impulse to a titanium plate of a small area, respectively, the force of impact on the body, distributed over a small area of the plate, was often fatal. It is also worth considering the almost complete absence of a damper layer, which practically did not change the situation. Rupture of the lung, deep fractures of the ribs, tearing the lungs with chipped edges, ruptures of other internal organs - it was like that. Penetration of body armor either when hit tangentially between the plates, or when hit at a right angle into an insufficiently thick plate (for example, an AKM bullet in the back of a 6B3TM-01 body armor or a bullet from an SVD in the chest section) had dire consequences, such as internal ricochets when the bullet, having pierced the body, ricocheted off the inside of the bulletproof vest and changing its trajectory, deformed, pierced the body in the opposite direction again, causing more serious damage than when piercing an unprotected body.

Body armor 6B3TM-01

Modern combined-arms body armor has become much more efficient and comfortable, and they also allow you to change the degree of protection by replacing armor elements. Instead of small plates, which, when hit by a bullet, deliver strong blows to bulletproof vests, plates of a large area are installed.

In 2003, the 6B23 bulletproof vest was created, which could be equipped with armored panels of 2, 3 and 4 protection classes. The minimum protection was fabric armor packages that protect the chest and back in class 2. A special collar protects the neck and chin from fragments and secondary damaging elements (from fragments of a bullet destroyed on a plate), the sides are protected by fabric armor elements. To reduce the barrier effect of the bullet and to ventilate the body, there is a cushioning-climatic layer. To enhance protection, steel armor plates of protection class 3 could be inserted into the chest and dorsal sections, and steel plates could be replaced with ceramic ones in the chest section, from which chest protection increased to class 4. As a result, the bulletproof vest turned out in four versions:

1. Fabric body armor, chest and back are protected by class 2 from splinters and pistol bullets, weight is only 3.6 kg.

2. Chest protection is reinforced with a steel armor element up to protection class 3, the back is protected with a class 2 fabric bag, weight increases to 7.4 kg.

3. The chest steel plate is replaced with a ceramic one, as a result of which the chest becomes protected by class 4, the back is also protected by a class 2 fabric armor panel. The mass, compared with the previous version, is reduced by almost 1 kg and the weight of the body armor is 6.5 kg. The decrease in weight simultaneously with the increase in the protection class is due to the fact that steel is replaced by ceramics. This ceramic armor element is lighter than steel, despite the higher protection class, but at the same time it is more fragile, when a bullet hits, the ceramic armor plate can be completely destroyed, steel is much more durable.

4. The chest is protected with Grade 4 ceramics, and the back protection is reinforced with steel plate up to Grade 3. The weight of the body armor becomes 10.2 kg.

Body armor 6B23.

Bulletproof vests of the 5th class of protection.

The most optimal class of bulletproof vests that protect against submachine gun bullets is considered to be the 5th class of protection. He is sometimes called "Antikalashnikov". GOST requires that class 5 personal armor protection equipment cannot be penetrated by the following ammunition:

Cartridge 7.62x39 mm (GRAU index 57-N-231), PS bullet with a heat-strengthened steel core weighing 7.9 g, fired from an AKM assault rifle and flying at a speed of 725 m/s (on average).

7.62 mm rifle cartridge 57-N-323S with an ordinary LPS bullet weighing 9.6 g with a non-heat-strengthened steel core flying from the SVD barrel at a speed of about 830 m / s.

But here a lot of questions immediately arise. Here are just a few of them.

The 7.62x39 cartridge here is exactly the same as in class 3 (see the GRAU index, see other sources), but in the case of class 5 we see a bullet with a heat-strengthened steel core (TUS). And this fact raises questions, because it is quite difficult to distinguish a bullet with a heat-strengthened core from a bullet with a non-heat-strengthened core by the appearance of the cartridge, here, as in the case of the 7H6 cartridge, the differences are only in branding, which means the year of issue. That is, it turns out that if the cartridge 57-N-231 is old, then a bulletproof vest of the 3rd class is intended for it, and if the same cartridge is of later years of release, then neither the third nor the fourth class will protect it from a bullet. The logic of the compilers of this GOST is not entirely clear, what happens if the enemy has cartridges of such and such a year of manufacture, then you can wear class 3 body armor, and if such and such a year, then class 4 will not save you, you need class 5. Intelligence work is added, moreover, such work, over the reasons for which the commanders will swear obscenities. If such a task at all will be set. And in most cases, what they gave - then put it on, and also say thank you that they didn’t kick you naked under the bullets. Inappropriate. Why do we need a 3rd class when it breaks through from the same weapon, the same cartridges, only when those cartridges are of a different year of manufacture? This remark is true both for the 5.45x39 7N6 cartridge and for the 7.62x39 cartridge with the PS bullet.

But, nevertheless, the fifth class is seen as the most adequate in terms of protection against Kalashnikov assault rifles, which are the most common automatic small arms in the post-Soviet space.

Protection against SVD looks completely different. The fifth class implies protection against an LPS bullet with a non-heat-strengthened core fired from an SVD. But the SVD is a sniper rifle, and if it is fired with sniper cartridges, then this is a completely different picture. The bullet of the 7N1 sniper cartridge should theoretically have significantly greater armor penetration than the LPS bullet.

Judge for yourself, here is the picture (1 - LPS bullet, 2 - 7N1 sniper cartridge bullet):

We see that the bullet core of the 7N1 cartridge has an area of contact with the target that is much smaller than the LPS bullet core. This means that the penetration of such a bullet will be higher, given the fact that the considered LPS bullet has a non-heat-strengthened core.

An example of a class 5 bulletproof vest is the variant of the “Universal CH cuirass”, model 5-5-1, which implies concealed wearing. The base here is a fabric bulletproof vest of the 1st protection class, reinforced with additional armored elements that protect in the 5th class. For the sake of stealth, the protection area for class 5 is small and amounts to 13-15 square decimeters, and protection for class 1 is provided on an area of 37-45 square meters. decimeters, the spread of numbers is dictated by differences in the size of the product. The weight of the body armor, reinforced to protection class 5, depending on the size is 9 - 10.5 kg. Also, this bulletproof vest can be equipped with plates that protect in classes 2 and 3, the weight, respectively, will decrease compared to class 5 protection.

Body armor "Cirass station wagon SN" 5-5-1

There is also a mass of both military and civilian bulletproof vests of the 5th protection class, about which it is easy to find information on the open spaces of the network. We will only say that such body armor is capable of withstanding hits by any bullets fired from Kalashnikov assault rifles, with the exception of special ones (armor-piercing or armor-piercing incendiary).

Bulletproof vests protection class 5a.

GOST singles out in a separate class 5a the containment of armor-piercing incendiary bullets of 7.62x39 caliber fired from AKM from ten meters. In more detail it looks like this:

Bulletproof vest class 5a must withstand hits of armor-piercing incendiary bullets of cartridge 7.62x39 (GRAU index 57-BZ-231) weighing 7.4 g, fired from an AKM assault rifle from a distance of 10 meters and flying at a speed of approximately 740 m / s. The core of the bullet is sharp, made by turning, behind the core is an incendiary composition, which is activated when the bullet hits the target.

Such cartridges are quite rare in real life; AKM is fired mainly with ordinary cartridges with a PS bullet.

As an example of such a bulletproof vest, one can cite the "Module-5M" 5a in the configuration 5a8k-2-b-125-130. The body armor is based on fabric armor panels made of aramid fiber, which are reinforced with ceramic armor elements according to protection class 5a. Additionally, the body armor can be equipped with protective screens for the groin and neck, as well as a fabric anti-ricochet screen over the main armor package with hard plates. The protection area for class 5a is 15 square meters. decimeters, the total area of the body armor (55 sq. decimeters, including the area protected by plates) is protected by class 1 soft panels.

Body armor "Module-5M" 5a protection class.

I don’t see the point in dwelling on class 5a bulletproof vests in more detail, because this is far from a common degree of protection, and the 7.62x39 cartridge itself with a BZ bullet is rare.

It is also worth noting that this class of protection always manifests itself in the replacement of plates, often with ceramic ones, so that they can stop the sharp armor-piercing core of the BZ bullet. In comparison with class 5, the only difference is that class 5 will be pierced by an armor-piercing incendiary bullet from AKM, and class 5a will contain such a bullet. There is a suspicion that here, on a par with the BZ bullet, you can simply put an armor-piercing bullet of the BP cartridge 7.62x39, about which there is not a word in GOST, despite its fairly wide distribution. After all, if class 5 withstands hits not by armor-piercing bullets, but by PS bullets with a heat-strengthened steel core, and the next class 5a is allocated specifically for armor-piercing incendiary bullets of the same cartridge, it turns out that the armor-piercing bullet of the BP cartridge 7.62x39 (7N23) passed GOST by the side. We derive the following result from this: class 5 bulletproof vests hold 7.62x39 with a PS bullet and a heat-strengthened core, but the armor-piercing bullet of the BP cartridge 7.62x39 (GRAU index 7N23) with a sharp steel heat-strengthened core made of high-carbon tool steel will surely pierce such a class 5 bulletproof vest. Like the same cartridge with an armor-piercing incendiary bullet. That is, the last two ammunition are designed to deter class 5a bulletproof vests, although GOST does not mention the 7N23 cartridge with the BP armor-piercing bullet. But we can safely add this ammunition to the list of cartridges for which class 5a body armor is designed. What will affect the more adequate classification of domestic bulletproof vests, compared to what we see now.

Bulletproof vests of the 6th class of protection.

Let's move on to the 6th class of protection according to GOST. This class is more popular, which is not surprising, because in any special operations in the same North Caucasus, such protection is more than relevant. Such bulletproof vests are able to withstand hits from any machine guns, and can also save the wearer's life from shots from SVD sniper rifles and from hits from PK / PKM machine guns, without which a serious clash is rarely done. So, according to the requirements of GOST, a bulletproof vest of the 6th class must withstand the following bullets:

Cartridge 7.62x54, increased penetration ST-M2 bullet with a heat-strengthened steel core of a pointed shape with a flat tip, weighing 9.6 g, flying out of the barrel of an SVD rifle at a speed of 830 m/s.

This refers to the cartridge 7.62x54 PP (hanging penetration) (GRAU index - 7N13). This line of cartridges, like most 7.62x54 cartridges in those years, was decided to be made exclusively with cores of at least increased penetration. What did it mean? It’s just that bullet cores began to be subjected to thermal hardening, and armor-piercing bullets with a sharp polished tool steel core began to be created, which gave an excellent result in terms of armor-piercing. But the 6th protection class is currently considered the most reinforced, because according to the domestic GOST, only stars and class 6a are higher, which we will talk about later. The widespread use of high-penetration ammunition for the 7.62x54 caliber formed the basis for the creation of body armor capable of protecting against such a scourge. Indeed, in such bullets, unlike the old LPS, they began to use heat-hardening of the cores, changing their shape and the design of the bullets themselves, using harder steels in the manufacture of cores, which led to one hundred percent penetration of bulletproof vests with lower classes. But even in the case of the 6th grade, we cannot guarantee that this is a panacea for any machine guns and rifles. The maximum possibility of such a bulletproof vest according to GOST is opposition to machine guns, and about rifles (including sniper ones) - the grandmother said in two. After all, there are also sniper armor-piercing cartridges, such as, for example, 7N14, the bullet of which has a sharp armor-piercing core and can be used as a sniper (the bullet is balanced and approximately equal in ballistics to the bullet of a 7N1 sniper cartridge). And this is already a level higher than the increased penetration cartridge 7N13, in which the core is not sharp, but flat at the tip. It turns out that bulletproof vests of the 6th protection class are adapted for bullets of the 7.62x54 mm cartridge, the bullet of which is called PP (increased penetration). This is closer to the point. In any case, for sharp armor-piercing bullets of 7.62x54 mm 7N14 cartridges, as well as for armor-piercing bullets of 5.45 mm caliber 7N24 and 7N22, these body armor, as a rule, is not tested, and the armor penetration of the latter is not clear how it will work for protection intended for bullets with the core of the "truncated cone", which are the bullets of the cartridge 7.62x54 7H13. For example, a 7N24 cartridge bullet of 5.45x39 caliber, fired from an AK assault rifle, from a ten-meter distance, which is supposed to test bulletproof vests with rifle and intermediate cartridges, will surely shoot through a bulletproof vest of the 6th class. These cartridges are still rare, but those who have had a chance to test them in a calm environment give this ammunition very flattering reviews. Several times I heard that bullets of 7N24 cartridges of 5.45 mm caliber at 100 meters pierce any armor plates used in the production of bulletproof vests. This bullet has a sharp (not pointed, but sharp) and thin tungsten alloy core, the design of the bullet allows you to realize the full penetration potential of the core.

It is worth noting that the 6th class of protection is very often just a reinforcement of any modular body armor by replacing the plates with stronger ones that provide class 6 body protection. Very often, for protection against high-velocity high-impulse bullets with hard sharp or pointed cores, body armor is provided with ceramic armor plates, because they are able to take the lion's share of the impact and negate the degree of armor penetration due to the destruction of harder ceramics. But, as you know, such protection quickly fails, which is justified by the low probability of a second bullet hitting the same place where the plate has already been destroyed. By the way, when destroyed, ceramic armor elements do not leave dangerous sharp corners; they crumble like sand, like side glass on cars. But in fairness, it should be noted that at present, modern manufacturers of personal protective equipment are making ceramic-based armor plates that can withstand several hits from rifles and machine guns, remaining intact, retaining their shape and most of their armor-protective properties.

As an example, let's take a fairly well-known army body armor 6B13, which initially provides the maximum all-round protection of the 4th class. When special armored plates manufactured by NPF TECHINCOM are installed there, chest protection is provided according to class 6 on an area of 8.6 square decimeters, and the back is protected by 8.5 square decimeters, respectively. The mass of such a bulletproof vest of the 6th protection class is about 10.5 kg, which is quite acceptable for this level of protection. Chest panels "Granit-4" for body armor of this series, made on the basis of organic ceramics, have no analogues in the world.

Body armor 6B13 with a chest panel "Granit-4".

And this is how a separately composite ceramic armor element of the 6th protection class produced by NPF TEHINCOM used in this body armor looks like.

Bulletproof vests protection class 6a.

The last class of bulletproof vests according to domestic GOST is class 6a, the latest in the Russian GOST classification table for personal protective equipment. GOST requirements for class 6a are as follows:

The body armor must not be pierced by an armor-piercing incendiary bullet B-32 of cartridge 7.62x54 (GRAU index 7-BZ-3) weighing 10.4 g with a sharp hardened steel core made of high-carbon steel, flying out of the barrel of an SVD rifle at a speed of about 830 m / with and falling into a bulletproof vest from a distance of 10 meters.

As a rule, such bulletproof vests, classes 6 and 6a, are very heavy. Sometimes an apron with a hefty ceramic plate is also hung over an “anti-automatic” protective kit (for example, a bulletproof vest of the 5th class with large area armor plates), designed to stop sharp heat-strengthened cores made of high-carbon tool steel (for example, such as U10A) of armor-piercing and armor-piercing incendiary bullets of special cartridges.

Such bulletproof vests are used for short-term assault operations, where the unit needs to go a certain distance under the fire of army small arms (machine guns), machine guns and snipers. The constant wearing of such personal protective equipment is impossible, both due to excessive weight, and due to significant difficulties in the thermoregulation of the body and the inability to sit down, lie down, stand up and bend over normally.

In any case, these are heavy bulletproof vests for short-term wear and they are intended for special operations (spurt) or for unhurried defense (which is less projected onto today's reality). Also, in such protection, you can move while sitting on the armor of an armored personnel carrier or infantry fighting vehicle.

Let us give an example of one of the best Russian achievements of modern technologies in terms of individual armor protection.

Your attention is represented by a new generation bulletproof vest - 6B43 in an extended set:

Bulletproof vest 6B43 extended configuration in disassembled form:

The body armor can be equipped with pouches for automatic magazines, cases for a walkie-talkie, for grenades and similar necessary devices. It is possible to allow the use of a lightweight version of this body armor, where the all-round protection is a light and soft fabric material "Rusar" based on aramid fiber, which allows you to protect the body from shrapnel, pistol bullets and bullets of intermediate cartridges (5.45x39, 7.62x39) at the end. This piece weighs 4.5 kg.

The manufacturer offers two options for completing the product - basic and advanced.

The basic version weighs up to 9 kg and provides all-round torso protection on an area of 42-47 square meters. decimeters, and also protects the neck. Reinforced panels protect your back over an area of 8.2 square meters. decimeters, and reinforced chest protection is 7.2 square meters. decimeters. Also, to reduce the behind-the-barrier injury and for ventilation, there are chest and dorsal special dampers of a new generation, which make it practically safe for automatic bullets to hit the plates, the armored contusion effect does not injure. But direct hits from rifle bullets of 7.62x54 caliber can cause injuries within the second degree of severity.

An extended modification of the body armor implies serious protection over a larger area and weighs up to 15 kg. In addition to enhanced back and chest protection, bulletproof side armor panels are installed here, bulletproof aprons protecting the groin and lower back (the groin is also protected by an anti-shatter apron made of aramid fiber), the shoulders are protected by anti-shatter screens of soft armor panels. Also, the extended modification is equipped with side temperature-controlled damper screens.

Bulletproof vest 6B43 in the basic configuration with a special suspension system for pouches, holsters and any other devices.

Armor elements designed to protect against bullets in class 6a are made of composite ceramics, the elements of which can withstand several hits while maintaining the properties necessary for protection.

Composite ceramic armor panels providing protection for 6B43 body armor in class 6a.

Any of these models does not deteriorate its protective properties after prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures (from -50 to +50 degrees Celsius), and also retains its properties during prolonged soaking in both fresh and salt water. Another plus is that the body armor can be pulled off in a few seconds, a special quick-detachable protection system is provided, which can be very useful, for example, if you are injured or if you need a quick retreat or change of position, and a dozen and a half kilograms do not contribute to the speed of movement.

By the way, the manufacturer of this miracle claims that if you remove the depreciation pads in winter (in order to lighten the weight, because in any case, a pea coat is put on the body, which to some extent can replace the damper), then even without them, the injury from any machine gun will be completely tolerable, but according to class 6a (when hit by a B-32 or PP bullet from a rifle or machine gun), the injury will be severe, in case of refusal to wear a depreciation support in winter in order to increase convenience. You should not expect that the sheepskin coat / pea coat will soften the blow so much, no one has yet canceled the SVD and PKM, which does not please either the fighters or the surgeons.

But such devices are still not for constant wear, they involve the use of a time equal to several hours, after which overwork occurs, which is felt very clearly. These bulletproof vests are for short-term assault operations or for a short defensive battle.

But, again, do not forget that no one canceled changing the plates, or even abandoning them, receiving the same body armor weighing 4.5 kg and protecting against fragments.

But class 6a is class 6a, and even the basic body armor 6B43, which protects the chest and back in class 6a, does not differ from the out of the ordinary weight - a maximum of 9 kg. And as we remember, bulletproof vests of lower classes had a lot more mass, especially given the difference in the degree of protection, so that modern developments in personal protective equipment do not stand still. And an apron with ceramics, which increases the weight to 15 kg, is rarely used, only during an assault under fire from rifles and machine guns.

In most cases, protection classes 6 and 6a are additional reinforced armor elements that complement the base, which usually consists of class 1 or 2 armor panels. To date, it is not possible to make protection of body armor according to class 6a over its entire area, there are only developments, there are no real samples that have passed the entire test cycle. And the main reason here is the mass and dimensions, which negate the mobility of the fighter.

Summing up all of the above, it is impossible not to notice some absurdities. Perhaps I am too picky about the manufacturers of bulletproof vests and the developers of GOSTs (concerning, SW. Research Institute of Steel), but why are our GOSTs so extensive? Let's start in order:

We will not consider classes 1 and 2 here, because the article deals with such personal protective equipment that is designed to withstand bullets from army small arms and short-barreled weapons have very little relevance to this topic and all the above classes of body armor can stop any pistol and revolver bullets, with the exception of special ones (as discussed above).

But starting from the 3rd grade, with which we, in fact, began this material, a complete bacchanalia begins. We have already examined in detail all the available classes, now we will briefly outline the very essence of what the author of the article wants to convey to the reader.

Grade 3 Needed to protect against Kalashnikov caliber 5.45x39 mm (AK74) and 7.62x39 (AKM), where PS bullets with non-heat-strengthened cores. Good. But if you load the same cartridges of just a different year of manufacture into the same machine guns (7N6 with a bullet with a heat-strengthened core (TUS) or 7,62 also with a heat-strengthened core (TUS), which often can not always be detected visually right away ( and they won’t really understand, the differences are only on the marks of the years of release of the ammunition, they opened the zinc, stuffed the magazines ...), then in the case of both cartridges (with TUS cores) the bulletproof vest will be pierced for sure. think it will break through such protection if the class that restrains it is located lower in the table.As already mentioned, class 3 is an honest pistol and pistol-machine gun armor.

4th grade. Designed for a PP bullet with a heat-strengthened core (TUS) of a 5.45x39 cartridge. Again, it is not clear which one. Testing the bulletproof vest with a bullet fired before the mid-90s, we get a normal product, and if the same bulletproof vest from the same barrel is loaded with the same bullets of 5.45 PP, but already upgraded, and where the cavity is filled with lead, then the result is again can be deplorable - body armor can easily be pierced, and the differences in cartridges are only on the stamps of the year of manufacture.

Grade 5 Designed for 7.62x39 with a bullet with a heat-strengthened core (TUS). Well, here, if you shoot from a machine gun and pierce, then you need to at least load an armor-piercing bullet, and to be sure, an armor-piercing incendiary bullet (this may seem strange, but armor-piercing incendiary ones often pierce better than just armor-piercing ones). But GOST is silent about armor-piercing bullets of other calibers: 5.45x39 mm, such as 7N22 and 7N24, which, in terms of armor penetration, show results higher than 7.62x39 with a TUS bullet.

For now, we will not consider the LPS bullet of the 7.62x54 cartridge so as not to get confused. Everything is clear with her.

5a class. It is designed exclusively for armor-piercing incendiary bullet BZ cartridge 7.62x39. Even a class was singled out. It turns out that this is the very, very class of protection against Kalashnikov assault rifles. But if so, why did they again forget about the armor-piercing 5,45x39 mm, which I cited above, and they forgot to mention the armor-piercing 7,62x39 itself in the classification, despite the fact that it is no less common than the armor-piercing incendiary “sister ' is, in fact, more common.

What can be said about the "anti-automatic" body armor. You can throw out plates from them that interfere with movement, but catching a bullet in the place where the plate was thrown a minute ago can mean a fatal wound. You can carry a heavy bulletproof vest on yourself for years, which again does not give any guarantees, but at such moments in time when the risk of an attack with a firearm is highest, it is better to wear armor, according to the situation. Plates 6a can be replaced with steel "three" or "fives", there can be many options, you can put on a light anti-fragmentation bulletproof vest made of fabric panels, reinforced with several thin rigid plates of the 2nd class "just in case".

But with a cartridge of 7.62x54 mm - everything looks even more complicated. Protection class 5 implies non-penetration by an LPS bullet with a non-heat-strengthened core fired from an SVD, although such bullets are most often fired from machine guns (PK, PKM, PKT). But at the same time, class 5 allows penetration by bullets with a heat-strengthened pointed core of increased penetration (PP) of the 7H13 cartridge, and 7H26 even more so. And with the sniper cartridge, not everything is clear - will the 5th class withstand the bullet of the 7N1 cartridge? Question…

Bulletproof vests of the 6th class stop bullets 7.62x54 with increased nailing (ST-M3 or cartridge 7N13), but again, there is no word about the effect of armor-piercing bullets of this caliber, although they are very common.

But class 6a guarantees non-penetration by B-32 bullets (one must think that class 6a will contain ordinary armor-piercing bullets of this cartridge). Having reached the last protection class according to domestic GOST, we, in the process of observing the topic, often saw a mention of the SVD, and have never seen the requirements for body armor not penetrating a 7N1 cartridge bullet or a 7N14 cartridge bullet, and in fact they are sniper (7N14 is considered a sniper - armor-piercing, sharp tool steel core, although many people do not consider it a sniper, it is believed that the bullet of this cartridge is worse balanced than on 7N1). But they usually shoot from SVD with them, they start using other cartridges when 7N1 or 7N14 come to an end, because SVD was specially “sharpened” for the 7N1 sniper cartridge, and 7N14 is its armor-piercing counterpart. Although in many units, unfortunately, machine-gun cartridges with an LPS bullet are fired from SVD, from which the accuracy of hits from this rifle goes beyond sniper shooting.

But both in the case of submachine guns, and in the case of rifles and machine guns (by the way, not a word is said about the latter in GOST, although there is a considerable difference in the parameters of a shot from a cold PKM barrel and from a cold SVD barrel), we see in classification, the main differences between the classes are that they rely on certain ammunition, despite the fact that this difference is often insignificant when compared with more significant parameters, such as the barrel, the weapon itself, conditions, etc.

Equating the existing GOST classification as a whole to reality, we will consider in the next material. Here we have only outlined for you the most significant moments in the domestic classification of personal protective equipment /automatic / rifle / machine gun / and drew some parallels.

As we can see, more than half of these classes are only confusing. Well, what is only class 3 worth. Let's plunge into life (non-peaceful).

What should be the thoughts of a fighter wearing such body armor if he thinks deeply (though fighters are not supposed to think)? Probably something like this: “The main thing is that the opponent’s automatic cartridges should be 7H6, and no later than such and such a year of release, after which the cores in those cartridges began to be thermally hardened, otherwise after breaking through the armor, the deformed bullet can do a lot of business. Well, it’s not worth talking about 5.45x39 PP and 7.62x39 TUS. ” Of course, I'm exaggerating, a fighter is unlikely to think in a similar way, but in every joke there is a share of a joke.

Another variant. “They gave armor of the 4th class. Heavy, an infection ... To throw all these pieces of iron or ceramics out of it, otherwise it’s impossible to move for a long time, it’s hard. But for the time being it is still worth being patient, the protection is still quite serious. Although the bronik is sharpened at 5,45 PP, the main thing is that the busurmans do not have modernized 5,45 PP, otherwise they will break through the campaign, and you can’t really distinguish it in appearance. Yes, and any 7.62x39 mm can become fatal if the bullet is TUS.

Third option. “Well, I put on this fifth class, machine guns are not terrible (if they hit the plates), and armor-piercing, God willing, no one will use. Although the weight is considerable, it can do it (although not calculated). Plus, there are chances from a machine gunner if they plant LPSs. And if not LPSkami?

Fourth option. “I put on a heavy class 5a. Now no machine guns will break through, probably, and LPSki will leave chances. But after all, in addition to LPS, PKMy and SVD use other ammunition. Yes, and the plates do not cover the whole body, a lot of trembling flesh under the fabric is waiting for the bullet.

It is not clear why so many classes of individual body armor? 3rd, 4th and 5th grades are especially incomprehensible. And especially 5a. Wouldn't it be better to combine them into one? On the same fifth? Especially when technology allows. And then some kind of lottery, where the rate is the year of issue of the cartridge on the branding of the bottom of the sleeve, which in the chamber is waiting in the wings, or rather the second, when the trigger is pulled. The same statement has the right to life in the case of classes 6 and 6a, which do not differ much in weight. But there are nuances here. Most manufacturers hang high-strength ceramics on their bulletproof vests of protection class 6a, which can protect against the sharp cores of B-32 bullets. But bulletproof vests of the 6th class very often use ceramic plates.

To continue on the analysis of the feasibility of classification follows ...

offtopic

The design of the bulletproof vest consists of the following elements:

Outer case with fastening and adjustment system,

The main armor elements,

shock absorber,

Armor material as part of a shock-absorbing pad and cover.

Body armor protection classes

0th class (or "special") - determines the protection against edged weapons.

1st class - protects against soft shellless bullets 5.6 mm, from pistol bullets 6.35 mm "Browning", PM - at close range, from buckshot and small fragments weighing up to 2-3 g, from edged weapons such as bayonet-knife, dagger, sharpening. The protected area is 30-40 dm2, weight - 1.5-2.5 kg.

2nd class - protects against shell bullets of pistol and revolver cartridges such as PSM, PM, TT, Nagant - at point-blank range, from shot from a hunting rifle and from edged weapons. These bulletproof vests are made of 7-10 layers of fabric with a density of 6-10 kg/m2 of protected area. Weight - 3-5 kg.

6th class - SVD with TUS (heat-strengthened steel), SVD with BS or B-32 (armor-piercing carbide). This class of body armor is intended mainly for special forces and law enforcement agencies.

The reliability of bulletproof vests is mainly determined by two criteria: the ability to prevent or reduce penetrating and dynamic injuries to a safe level, since they can be traumatic and deadly.

There are 3 levels of damage to body armor:

Maximum allowable (PD) - the vest is not pierced by a bullet, but the fabric of the vest, together with the bullet, is introduced into the body, or is pierced by a bullet at the end, i.e. with loss of lethal force.

Minimum (M) - the vest is not pierced by a bullet, its fabric is not embedded in the body.

The dynamic impact of a bullet on a person using a bulletproof vest in all cases is reduced to a safe level by increasing the area of its perception and / or the time the bullet stops.

For bulletproof vests, 4 main sizes are installed (chest girth / height):

1st - 96-104 cm / up to 176 cm,

2nd - 104-112 cm / 176-182 cm,

3rd -112-120 cm / over 182 cm,

4th - 120-130 cm / St. 182 cm

The whole variety of protective materials used in body armor can be divided into 5 types:

Textile (woven) armor;

Metal armor;

Ceramic armor;

Composite armor;

Combined armor.

Metal armor elements are usually made of steel "44" with a thickness of:

for the 1st class - 1mm, for the 2nd class - 2.4mm, for the 3rd class - 4.3mm, for the 4th class - 5.8mm, for the 5th class - 6.5mm, for 6 th class - 15mm.

The main disadvantages of body armor