It's BODY ARMOUR, not Rocket Science

Sadly we Indians have no clue what are the modern body armour systems that are available out there today and this lack of understanding has directly translated into more combat casualties. It is because of this ignorance that we lose trained soldiers almost everyday in counter-insurgency theatres like Kashmir which is considered comparatively to have lower threat level than Afghanistan or Iraq and yet the Americans have achieved to reduce combat deaths from gunshot wounds very successfully. So let me enlighten you today and give you details of 21st century body armour.

Every body armour system is made up of two main components and they are :-

1. Soft armour panels :-

These are panels that are made from high strength fibers such as Kevlar and is also flexible but these panels can only provide protection from small caliber weapons such as pistols and revolvers. It also can provide protection from fragments. One advantage of soft body armour is that it is much more capable of absorbing blunt force trauma associated with being shot.

2. Hard armour panels

In this case the material can be metals such as titanium alloys, ceramics such as Boron Carbide or even hardened plastics. These plates are rigid and can effectively stop multiple AK 47 (7.62×39mm) and M4 (5.56×45mm NATO) rounds though they are not very good at absorbing blunt force trauma.

Now that you know the differences between the above two let me take this a step further and explain the difference between a bulletproof jacket and a plate carrier vest.

Bulletproof Jacket

Bulletproof jackets are not exactly bullet-proof, don't let the name fool you. These jackets are usually made from the same material that of soft armour panels such as Kevlar and these jackets wrap around your body like a piece of clothing and can provide some degree of ballistic protection on their own. They can only provide you protection from smaller caliber rounds and is mainly optimised for Police and Law enforcement agencies. These jackets can be worn under your normal clothing thereby effectively concealing your true role and nature. This can particularly come in handy when you are trying to blend into the population and doesn't want to appear intimidating. Of course these jackets can be upgraded with hard armour plates to give better protection levels but that would make it heavy and impair its ability to be concealed. Thus it will beat its purpose on doing so.

Plate Carrier Vests

As the name suggests these vests are made with the primary purpose of carrying your battle load. Unlike bulletproof jackets they don't provide protection on their own but they have pouches in front, rear and sides to insert both soft and hard armour panels. These are much more customisable than bulletproof jackets with respect to their protection levels. You can add more hard or soft armour at the cost of increasing weight. Therefor soldiers tend to change the panel loadouts according to the threat perception of an operation. Plate carrier vests are more suited to the military as it offers greater practicality and also an added advantage of intimidating look.

Our Very Own- BHABHA KAVACH

I am proud to say that we have gone and created a "thing" that is neither a bulletproof jacket nor a plate carrier vest. Basically we have developed a 'Frankenstein's Monster' and has supplied it to our troops. I had the opportunity to see this "thing" with my very own eyes at the DefExpo 2018 in Chennai, and I was appalled to say the least. This system neither offers the ability to carry loads like the plate carrier vests nor the concealability of a bulletproof jacket. YAY Go India ! (pure sarcasm)

The Boron Carbide plates (hard armour plates that are inserted into the pouches of this jacket/vest) developed by BARC are world class mind you but the design of the jacket/vest leaves a lot to be desired. I will say this with confidence that " No soldier will ever want to get caught dead wearing this". " Are our scientists unaware of these details or are they that incompetent ?". And this does not look intimidating at all, why should it look intimidating you ask ?, well in warfare this boosts the morale of our soldiers and will psychologically affect the enemy. I really am perplexed at our sorry state of affairs.

I suppose this happens when you give importance to reservation than 'deserve-ation'. Anyway since we are playing with National Security and the lives of our soldiers, I only have one thing to say "God Save India", and yeah we should have been a superpower by now after all this is 2020.