In today’s uncertain world, personal safety is a top priority for many individuals, whether they’re law enforcement officers, military personnel, or civilians facing potential threats. When it comes to protective gear, soft body armor stands out as a crucial line of defense against various threats. However, within the realm of soft body armor, understanding the distinction between NIJ certified and NIJ tested products is paramount.
What is Soft Body Armor?
Before diving into the differences between NIJ certification and testing, let’s briefly outline what soft body armor is and why it’s important. Soft body armor, often made from materials like Kevlar or Dyneema, is designed to protect against handgun and fragmentation threats. Unlike hard armor plates, which are rigid and primarily used by military personnel for rifle protection, soft body armor is flexible, lightweight, and offers enhanced mobility, making it suitable for everyday wear.
Understanding NIJ Standards
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. It sets the standards and establishes the testing protocols for body armor in the United States. The NIJ’s ballistic resistance standards categorize body armor into different levels based on the types of threats they can withstand. These levels range from Level IIA (offering the least protection) to Level IV (providing the highest level of protection against rifle rounds).
NIJ Tested
When a manufacturer claims that their soft body armor is NIJ tested, it means that their product has undergone rigorous testing procedures conducted by NIJ-approved laboratories. These tests evaluate the armor’s ability to stop specific ballistic threats, such as handgun rounds, according to the NIJ’s established standards for various protection levels. NIJ testing ensures that the armor performs as advertised and meets the necessary criteria for its designated threat level.
However, it’s essential to note that NIJ testing does not guarantee certification. A product may pass the required tests, but still lack NIJ certification because the manufacturer has not completed the full NIJ compliance testing protocol.
NIJ Certified
On the other hand, NIJ certification signifies that a body armor product has not only undergone NIJ testing, but has also met additional requirements set forth by the NIJ Compliance Testing Program (CTP). This program evaluates various aspects of the manufacturing process, including quality control measures, consistency in production, and compliance with NIJ standards beyond ballistic resistance.
Obtaining NIJ certification demonstrates a manufacturer’s commitment to producing reliable and consistent body armor that meets the highest industry standards. It assures consumers that the product they’re purchasing has not only passed ballistic tests, but has also undergone thorough scrutiny of its overall manufacturing processes to ensure quality and reliability.
For more information regarding the history of the NIJ, please visit our BLOG article.
WarBird Body Armor
When choosing soft body armor, whether for personal use or professional applications, it’s crucial to consider both NIJ testing and certification. NIJ tested armor provides assurance of ballistic performance, while NIJ certification offers additional validation of the product’s quality and consistency.
WarBird’s soft body armor lineup includes three tiers of soft armor panels designed to match an individual’s needs and budget. NIJ Certified for either Level II or Level IIIA threat levels, WarBird custom fits the armor to the customer, utilizing its proprietary CORE Pattern System for precise sizing.
The soft armor offering includes NIJ Certified Level II and Level IIIA inserts, tiered into three distinct families: Hoss, Meridian and SkyFlex. Each armor tier offers the same level of premium protection and are separated primarily through material weight, thinness and cost. WarBird offers these inserts as part of a soft armor bundle that includes custom-sized armor paired with the lightweight, concealable Ghost Hawk carrier.
For more information WarBird’s full line of soft body armor, eye protection and ear protection, please visit www.warbirdpro.com.
https://nij.ojp.gov/ballistic-resistance-body-armor-nij-standard-010107 for current standards (2a is gone and rifle level 1 includes 5.56) otherwise not bad for the breakdown of the marketing terms often used.
True, and true.
Several years ago, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of obtaining the cut leftovers of the (Aramid) material used in the production of these vests, due to my friendship with a manager within a mfg company in the industry. Sections weren’t large enough to complete full items, but large enough to use for my own ballistic testing out in the desert with some buddies.
Long story short…they did *not* perform as rated. A Level III is supposed to stop 7.62×51 (.308 Win), but our 5.56 rounds all went through the samples like butter. Most of the .357 Mags went through as well.
“Certified” does not guarantee squat.
3 or 3a? And assuming it being more than a few years ago was it a hard plate or flexible panel (of which I can only think of two that would be lv 3 (rifle) rated as opposed to 3a (pistol 44mag and 357 Sig or mag depending on which standard)
It was a few years ago, so I don’t recall if I was given that detail (III or IIIA), TBH.
But even so, I expected *some* sort of penetration resistance or deformation of the bullets, considering we stacked multiple layers of the material…not simply a single one. The bullets passed through all of them and were still in almost perfect condition when recovered from the soft backstop. I’m aware that my casual “in the desert with buddies” exercise didn’t qualify as meeting any sort of formal testing standards, but gollygeewillikers I expected some sort of performance.
Sometimes the redneck results are very relevant. If both 357 and 308 sailed through I am guessing soft pistol armor which if it is a small surface area can have less than stellar effects even on pistol rounds. FMJ rifle rounds will barely notice until around 50+ layers but kevlar is not well suited for rifle rounds like UHMWPE (dyneema in hard plate format) can be. If it was a well stitched and secured panel it should deform the 357 but if it was loose sheets of kevlar……yeah honestly don’t know always made a secure panel or resin treated it into a thin plate for my backyard testing back when I could buy the stuff legally.
I didn’t use .308. I mentioned above that we used .357 Mag and 5.56. 😉
To clarify, it was soft (Aramid/Kevalr) armor and not steel/ceramic, so it wasn’t rated for high powered rifle, but if memory serves we stacked about 5 layers deep at a firing distance of about 25 yds, and everything went through. Mebbe we expected too much or I was misinformed when told it was Level III when it might have been lower.
But it was a fun time in the desert.
Ah gotcha yeah I normally saw 9mm stop around 10-12 layers (stiched at edges to secure) and 14-17 for 357 mag(or Sig) at least until you start throwing copper solids into the mix. Derp to me on 308 but I would imagine 5.56 would be a similarly stupid number of layers for kevlar. And yes always fun playing with oddball targets.
Wait…SNW is moderating now, too?
Geez.
Links that I noticed so far but substantially less. What was the condensed version?
Haz,
It might be the exact same WordPress system that TTAG had. I noticed the moderation of some of the same words. Also, you might not be able to post more than one link at a time.
I haven’t tested the system because I can’t edit or delete my comments. I might test it anyway on an old article. I don’t want to muck up the comment section. If your comment appears, I’ll check it against the forbidden words and phrases list.
I just realized the moderated comment might have been the one you posted on July 26, 2024 at 6:34 pm. I don’t see the issue with it.