Testing military body armor

By SANFORD NAX
Fresno Bee
Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The Government Accountability Office is assessing body armor used by American soldiers to determine which is best, but the company that sparked the investigation says it could be shut out of the tests.

The GAO plans to piggyback on an Army request -- that includes testing -- for new protective vests. The solicitation is open to all manufacturers, but officials at Pinnacle Armor in Fresno say the requirements from the military are so onerous that its suppliers may not be able to ramp up production fast enough to participate.

The request also does not mandate side-by-side testing of body armor, which Pinnacle has been calling for -- and which some lawmakers wanted, said Lloyd Ramirez, director of information and analysis at Pinnacle.

Pinnacle is pushing for changes that it says would level the playing field. "We're hoping for reasonable accommodations so small businesses can compete," Ramirez said.

The Army has expressed an interest in more flexible armor but hasn't approved Pinnacle's Dragon Skin, which is made of 2-inch ceramic discs laid out in an interlocking pattern like scales of a fish. Pinnacle says the discs are more difficult to crack than the single large ceramic plates in Interceptor vests used by the Army.

Murray Neal, Pinnacle's president, has been at odds with the Army, contending his product is better than the vests currently worn by soldiers. He has pushed for independent third-party testing to verify his claims.

Pinnacle suffered a blow this month when the National Institute of Justice removed Dragon Skin from an interim list of approved body armor, a move that the company says cost it millions of dollars in lost orders from law enforcement agencies.

Pinnacle is one of 50 manufacturers that participate in the voluntary compliance program, run by the National Institute of Justice. The federal agency said Pinnacle did not provide enough evidence that its vests will hold up through its declared six-year warranty.

Pinnacle officials said they are working to provide the information.

"Our bread and butter is law enforcement. The orders are basically on hold until we get through the NIJ issue," Ramirez said. "We are calling on them to recertify us. We've been tested more than any other product in the history of body armor."

Ramirez said Dragon Skin has performed flawlessly on the battlefield and in service and called the decertification by the National Institute of Justice unprecedented.

The reporter can be reached at snax(at)fresnobee.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com