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The first coverings worn by humans were to protect against the elements and
injury. While that requirement still exists in everyday clothing, very
specialised garments have been developed to protect against the effects of
bullets, bombs, knives and other weapons. This book is about these forms of
protective clothing – body armour and helmets. The protection of personnel
against the effects of weapons has become an important not only to those in the
military or in law enforcement but also to others such as journalists and
medical staff who might be at risk in the course of their duties.
The authors have written this
introduction to the modern body armour and helmets of the early 21st century in
non-technical language, mainly for the reader who has little or no previous
knowledge of materials technology, design, or ballistics. They have attempted to
provide answers to the questions that such a reader may have. The book describes
anti-personnel weapons and ammunition and the materials which are used to stop
these threats. The reader will learn why and how such forms of protection work.
The book also explains how body armour and helmets are designed, how both the
basic materials and the finished clothing and headwear are tested and how to
select appropriate armours and helmets.
After briefly discussing the
development of body armour and helmets in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 looks at the
classification of threats, including small-arms, rifle and handgun bullets;
fragmenting munitions, and knives. Based on the protection required for each of
these threats, Chapter 3 discusses the armour materials including steel and
other metals, flexible armour materials, fibre composites, ceramic-faced
armours, and transparent armours. Chapter 4 discusses basic armour design
considerations and Chapter 5 looks at helmet design and face protection. Chapter
6 discusses ballistic tests for body armour, testing of stab-resistant materials
and non-ballistic test methods for helmets. Chapter 7 addresses the issues of
cost, protection levels, weight, comfort, and compatibility. Chapter 8 looks
briefly at alternative materials and systems. Finally, Chapter 9 provides
technical data and information including: useful conversion factors; data on
bullets, ballistic-protection testing standards, ballistic limit velocities,
armour materials, body armour weight, knife protection standards, drop heights
for helmet and knife testing, and blast.
Laurence Tobin
had been both a soldier and a police officer before spending thirty years as a
senior scientist in the UK Ministry of Defence, engaged exclusively on the
research and development of body armour. He has served on several NATO and
European research groups and was the originator of the only international
symposia on personal armour systems which continues to be held every two years.
He is now the director of a protective clothing consultancy.
Dr Michael
Iremonger has taught at the Royal Military of Science (now the
Defence College of Management and Technology) at Shrivenham in the UK for over
thirty years. As well as teaching many students about the fundamentals of body
armour he has conducted research on many aspects of body armour systems from the
computer and experimental modelling of armour mechanics to the factors that
influence their wearability. |
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