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Explaining the NIJ Standard 0101.06 Ballistic Resistance of Body Armour
As CEO of PPSS Group I am dealing with body armour almost every single day of the week. My job is to advise government and homeland security agencies in countries around the world in the latest body armour technology and argue my case why I strongly believe a certain type of body armour is the most appropriate one based on the operational risks, threats and duties of their frontline staff.
One thing has always been a ‘thorn in my eyes’ though. It is my genuine believe that the vast majority of bullet proof vests are of poor, or even exceptional poor quality (please insert any word you fancy replacing ‘exceptional poor’). The performance of most bullet proof vests might be of an acceptable level on the day of testing/certification, but when worn in hot and humid environments by an officer who is actively involved in serious physical confrontations, for several hours a day, several days a week/month/year, that ballistic protection level might well have been reduced by a high percentage due to the use of poor raw materials and craftsmanship and ‘cutting corners’ during the design and manufacturing process.
So, how do we know one body armour is ‘really good’ and that it will do the job even after having been subjected to all types of severe stress for many months and even years?
The ‘guarantee’ now comes in form of the compliance to a very specific ballistic resistance standard.
To ensure that body armour continue to be effective in protecting soldiers, homeland security officers and personal protection specialists, the U.S. National Institute of Justice (NIJ) established a body armour standard and testing program back in 1972, and it has been updated five times since then to reflect the design and manufacturing developments of body armour and test methods.
There is no question about it this standard is without any doubt the single most important ballistic resistance standards in the world. The latest is also the most stringent and most important version of it. I am talking here about the ‘NIJ Standard 0101.06 Ballistic Resistance of Body Armour’.
So, what has changed? Why was it time for the body armour test protocol to change? Why is it relevant to you and anyone charged with the safety of frontline professionals and those responsible for the purchase of body armour?
Let me start with a simple statement… the NIJ 0101.06 standard means added safety, which has always been the key objective for PPSS Group.
The NIJ 0101.06 standard is the most comprehensive, stringent and rigorous body armour compliance standard that exists today.
by Robert Kaiser, CEO of PPSS Group
NIJ0101.06BallisticResistanceStandard
UNDERSTANDING
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A NIJ 0101.06 tested and certified body armour ultimately means increased protection for you. It means ‘reassurance’ and ‘piece of mind’ knowing that you are wearing a body armour based on the very latest design and manufacturing capabilities and technologies.
In the official ‘NIJ Standard 0101.06 Ballistic Resistance of Body Armor’, John Morgan, Deputy Director for Science and Technology, National Institute of Justice stated:
“The NIJ Standard–0101.06, ‘Ballistic Resistance of Body Armor’ is a minimum performance standard developed in collaboration with the Office of Law Enforcement Standards (OLES) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It is produced as part of the Standards and Testing Program of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. This standard is a technical document that specifies the minimum performance requirements that equipment must meet to satisfy the requirements of criminal justice agencies and the methods that shall be used to test this performance. This standard is used by the NIJ Voluntary Compliance Testing Program (CTP) to determine which body armor models meet the minimum performance requirements for inclusion on the NIJ Compliant Products List. Users are strongly encouraged to have this testing conducted…”
This extremely stringent new ballistic resistance standard increases safety in three ways:
• By increased performance against today’s emerging threats
• By improved reliability• By superior durability for body armour… ensuring they
will cope with the stress they may endure by being worn10hoursaday,fivedaysaweek,52weeksayear, over several years.
These changes in testing and these new improved minimum performance requirements have been set for several reasons:
• Toimproveperformance,sothatallofficersreceivesufficientprotection
• To provide adequate protection against realistic and likelyballisticthreats
• To provide assurance that the armour will provide protection through the entire life of its warranty… and notjustondayoftesting/certification.
The NIJ 0101.06 standard features several crucial, ‘right’ and ‘good’ changes to the previous globally dominating NIJ Standard 0101.04 (Ballistic Resistance of Personal Body Armour):
Higher Velocities• Increased test velocities for new armour testing of
Types IIA, II and IIIA• Test velocities have been established for conditioned
armour testing• Special-threat rounds to be tested at elevated
velocities within the special test class
Protection Level IIIA Round Changes• Roundchangedfroma9mmFMJRNtoa.357FMJFN
Shot Placement• ThenewNIJStandard0101.06modifies“shot-to-edge”spacing.Newspacingallowsshotswithin2inchesoftheedgeofthevestforthe.357mmSIGFMJFNand9mm FMJ RN threats
• Whilemaintaininga2-inchshot-to-shotspacing,thenew NIJ Standard 0101.06 changes the pattern of the fourth,fifthandsixthshottobewithinamaximumofa3.94-inch circle
Size of Test Samples• Five standardized armour samples will now be
accepted for testing to NIJ Standard-0101.06: smallest, small, medium, large and largest
• Manufacturersmustsubmit2differentsizesfortesting• The sizes selected determine the range of sizes that
can be produced for that particular model:• One closely matching the smallest production size• One closely matching the largest production size
Immersion Testing• The new NIJ Standard-0101.06 requires test panels tobefullyimmersedverticallyinawaterbathat70°Ffor 30 minutes. (Prior standards only required a water spray test for 6 minutes)
Environmental Conditioning (Tumbling) Test• Prior standards did not include environmental
condition tests• The new standard requires panels to be tumbled for 72,000cyclesovera10-dayperiodat149°Fat80%relative humidity prior to ballistic testing
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• The conditioned armor portion of the test protocol uses lower velocities, then the reference velocities used with the new armor portion of the test protocol
Number of Samples Required• ThenewNIJStandard-0101.06standardrequires28completetestsamples,includingfrontandbackpanel.(Prior standards required 6 complete test samples)
Angle of Incidence• The new NIJ Standard-0101.06 standard requires that,
for P-BFS testing, each test panel must be shot with onehitat30°andanotherhitat45°angles
For those of you who prefer to read/see this in form of a table (below) the following will certainly answer some of your key questions:
In case you wish to develop a further, even more in depth understanding of the ‘NIJ Standard 0101.06 Ballistic Resistance of Body Armor’ then please view the entire official document: clickhere
Please also read my following two blogs:
• “UnderstandingConcealableBulletProofVests”• “SlashResistantClothingforHomelandSecurityProfessionals”
In case you have any questions or concerns… please comment on my blog or view our www.ppss-group.com. You can also email [email protected] or call us on +44(0)8455193953
Information NIJ 0101.04 Standard NIJ 0101.06 Standard
Conditioning prior to testing 6 minutes / shower 30 minutes complete submersion and tumbling for 10 days at 149 degrees at 80% humidity
Total number of shots for soft armour 48 shots / 24 each cal. 144 shots / 72 each cal.
Number of shots new armours 48 shots / 24 each cal. 72 shots / 48 each cal.
Number of shots artificially aged armours None 48 shots / 24 each cal.
Total number of BFS measurements 16 BFS / 8 each cal. 48 shots / 24 each cal.
Number of test samples per NIJ Level 6 complete armours 28 complete armours
Template size/shots 48 shots large size 72 shots smallest size / 48 shots largest size
Increased velocities Level IIA -9mm / 40 S&W 1120 fps / 1055 fps 1224 fps / 1155 fps
Increased velocities Level II -9mm 1205 fps 1306 fps
New Threats IIIA 9mm eliminated .357 Sig at 1470 fps
Shots to edge distance 3 inches Small cal. 2” from edge / large cal. 3” from edge
Shot placement Widely spaced 3 near edge / 3 closely spaced
V50 with both calibres 9mm only Both calibres
Conformity assessment None Manufacturing facility audits and random testing over 5 years
Cost of Certification $2,500 - $3,300 $18,000 - $25,000
Total number of shots Level III hard armours 18 shots 24 shots
Total number of shots Level IV hard armours 8 shots 24 shots
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