Body armor used by special ops troops recalled

[unhappycamper]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/23/special-ops-body-armor-recalled/1723657/



A manufacturing defect found in about 5% of the armor plates tested could compromise their ability to stop direct hits.


Body armor used by special ops troops recalled
Rob Curtis, Military Times

November 24. 2012 - More than half of the tens of thousands of body armor plates worn by special operations forces in the U.S. military are being recalled for replacement, Military Times has learned.

The equipment is manufactured by Ceradyne Defense, a company that has supplied the U.S. military for decades and shares similar technology with other armor plates used in the Defense Department's inventory.

The technology failure has been the focus of months of analysis overseen by Special Operations Command, according to documents reviewed by Military Times.

A SOCOM spokesman acknowledged the problem in an email, saying a manufacturing defect was found "in a small percentage (of) ballistic armor plates issued to Special Operations Forces."

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[Victor_c3]

2. I believe that they use boron carbide in the plates

Boron carbide is tricky to manufacture as it crystal structure can only be created under very specific conditions and is only third in hardness to diamond and boron nitride. Well, I guess that is why the government pays top dollar for body armor...