What do you think is the future shape of body armor? Were armor plates a mistake and should we go back to flak jackets? Post some cool designs, hard sci-fi welcome.
Body armor thread
Tyler Parker
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Jason Harris
Rate my idea: why don't we use some large area flak vest and reinforce it with thin hard ceramic plates over vital areas? I've seen some guy make homemade body armor that had ceramic tiles that would fragment incoming bullets and then stop the remaining pieces by some sheet metal. Can this be done using ceramic layer as an outer vest/plate, and flak jacket as the inner layer?
Something like this flak jacket with at least level II protection would be good enough without going into inserting armor into clothing/weirdness like on my 2nd pic. I'm unsure about the possible size of the ceramic plate, how much would be impractical?
Kayden Gutierrez
Yes. Imagine an uniform like pic related made of UHMWPE. And if we get rid of plates then we don't need plate carriers either, therefore we can go back to hang nearly every piece of equipment on the belt.
Camden White
Well, i dunno. I've got pic related to counter it, though it's not feasible for now so your point is valid.
Brayden Allen
If the military industry wasn't retarded we could just have a plate carrier thin enough just to carry the plate, and then rather than being retarded and putting all your shit and pouches on the plate carrier, just put them on belts around your waist.
William Cook
That's already been done with SAPI plates or really any plate that isn't a stand alone. Just usually it's IIIa all around instead of level II since the plates need a IIIa backer.
Bentley Russell
I wanted them to be separate and the inner layer to be flexible, that's why i chose weaker level. That way you can also make and maintain them for cheaper as you only swap either main plate or even just one segment of it. I'm just unsure if the weight of such plate is actually worth using it, as it does cover too small of an area to be important. It would be sensible if it covered not only 2/3 of each lung but went lower to the waist and stomach and wider to the sides or even shoulders to protect all major blood vessels, but at this point it might be easier to just have a full set or proper armor instead of flak jacket.
Ryan Cooper
Aren't the russians doing that? I'm pretty sure most soldiers are using a plate carrier with pic related over it.
Robert Wright
Are ballistic shields a meme? Looking at the retail prices I could find for UHMPE, while they aren't cheap a sheet of the stuff isn't going to break the bank for anyone other than a hardcore NEET - and gets cheaper if you're prepared to risk buying it from the Chinks. You'd need to add the fittings and shape it yourself but that should be a fun project for a weekend (once you take the planning time into account). I can't find an easy way to calculate an NIJ rating for this, but from the density and thickness figures I've seen this shield should be around level IV - which doesn't sound too bad for something you could build in your garage with hand tools. The weight becomes an issue if you want a tower shield, but smaller designs would help there - or use the sheets to bulletproof a vehicle or bunker if you're a richfag
Isaiah Turner
Not a meme for police work or urban settings, definitely a meme for 99% of military applications. You won't have many situations where crouching behind your shield is a more sound decision than lying down near natural cover.
Austin Howard
So useful for home defence when paired with a handgun or lightweight shotgun or a Judge the weight of a few cubic meters of UHMPE would also be much less of a concern in that role.
Jeremiah Morales
Gun shields are the real deal: combatreform.org
Eli Barnes
Flak jackets are nice for conventional warfare against militaries with artillery, but for goatfuckers with AKs, rifle plates make more sense becasue the flak jacket doesnt stop rifle rounds.. Plus flak jackets really suck to wear, especially in terroristy places that are hot.
Also, unpopular opinion,
Carter Wilson
That is good for the older style of combat, but with modern mechanization, it is a bad idea. If you do not believe me, try sitting in a car with a full ALICE belt on. Then imagine you are in a cramped APC.
Dominic Green
Modern APCs and IFVs require everyone to sit on their own "blast seats". You could design one similar to pic related, but with an adjustable upper part, and a greater gap between that and the lower part, so that there is enough space for the equipemnt on the belt.
Jose Thompson
Still, it would take more room to solve a problem that isnt there with modern LBE, becasue the LBE was already designed around the vehicle.
John Gutierrez
In other words, modern LBE was designed to destroy the knees and spine of the soldier, but it's fine because you can make the vehicle sightly shorter.
Julian Phillips
...
Elijah Nelson
Forgot to mention: you could have a lot more space inside an IFV if it was designed with at least late 1970s technology in mind.
www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/cobra-ifv
Or better yet, put there a horizontally oriented water bottle with a straw.
Jace Sullivan
Dear God, witnessing such purified autism is just beautiful. Thanks for the link Magyarbro, that should provide a lot of reading for the next week or so.
How the hell do I become a part of this glorious temple to pointless obsession?
Levi Murphy
No he really doesn't, the only way he addresses the weight of a gunshield is 'lmao work out more' and 'b-but night vision has weight'. Not to mention that a gunshield objectively and clearly does not provide the same protection as a similarly sized piece strapped to the torso - a. it's further away and allows shots from narrower angles to hit the soldier, and b. is only possibly useful when your gun is pointed directly fucking at whoever's shooting at you, which is not really how things work. That guy has some commendable autism to write all that but his autism also destroys his common sense.
Blake Harris
Always start with a spidersilk gambeson
Landon Adams
Make the weapon lighter. E.g. use a bullpup.
Make the weapon shorter. E.g. use a bullpup.
Boy armour is only useful if you are standing or kneeling with a straight back and face the enemy, which is not really how things work.
Jacob Wilson
As opposed to girl armour?
Kevin Allen
Patrician taste my friend
Jaxson Reed
maybe he means pircrel
It does hurt without it. playground cricket was the best thing about primary school prove me wrong -protip: you can't
polite sage for off-topic post
Xavier Price
But bullpups are not lighter
Tbh, even this retarded shield + flak vest would be an improvement over this shit.
Better yet, kill everyone related to these retarded plates and make a proper cuirass, preferably from UHMWPE. We late medieval era now.
Michael Gonzalez
They are, stuff like the SA80 are heavy, but that's just because they're shit designs in general, not because they're bullpups, if you made the SA80 in a standard configuration it would be even heavier. Just look at the MSBS for an apples to apples comparison, the bullpup variant is lighter than the standard variant.
Lucas Martin
Why is that then? Is it because you use receiver as a stock? Does that mean that a stockless version would be lighter?
Benjamin Ross
Although there are obviously heeps of exceptions to the rule, and a very few areas where bullpups and traditional layout can be compared, there are cases where bullpups can be lighter despite having a longer barrel and shorter overall length.
The SVU is lighter than the SVDM or the SVDS (unloaded mag w/scope: 4.4kg vs 5.3kg vs 4.68kg respectively) and has the longest barrel length (600mm vs 550mm vs 565mm) while being the shortest variant overall (900mm vs 1135/975mm folded vs 1135/815mm folded).
Adrian Nguyen
Yeah, no weight from the stock mostly, also generally shorter hand guards and stuff since most of the barrel is under the receiver.
Zachary Jenkins
I think there should be a high/low mix, and the commander on the ground should decide which to use.
Low mix would just be a 5 layer Rusar uniform consisting of pants and a jacket, gloves, armored boot bottoms, and hard shell helm with a neck skirt. Purpose of the low mix is to be used in rural areas, where the main danger is from artillery shell fragments, land mines and flames. Countermeasure to guns is just taking proper cover.
High mix would include a chest rig and general full body armor on top of the low mix, also including a gun shield. To be used in areas with lots of corridors and doors to be breached, such as urban areas or breaching of bases and ships. Cover might not be possible in such areas, so heavy armor is needed.
Either way you can encourage your commanders to stay in the rural areas as much as possible to decrease costs, but in the end it has to be up to the guy at the frontline to decide what to use.