Justice Department drops Dragon Skin body armor recommendation

[babylonsister]

Justice Department drops Dragon Skin body armor recommendation
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, August 9, 2007

WASHINGTON — Department of Justice researchers have dropped Dragon Skin body armor from their list of acceptable protective equipment for law enforcement, the latest setback for the controversial bulletproof vests.

But officials from Pinnacle Armor Inc., which makes the vests, say the move is a hasty reaction to paperwork confusion about the warranty length of the vests and believe it may have ties to the ongoing fight between the company and Army researchers over Dragon Skin’s effectiveness.

“This armor doesn’t fail any (Justice Department) ballistics tests, but they took it off the list anyway,” Pinnacle CEO Murray Neal said. “It’s something that never should have happened. We just need to get through this issue and get this armor back on these cops.”

Pinnacle officials in June squared off with military researchers in a series of congressional hearings over Dragon Skin’s effectiveness. An NBC report in May that the commercially available armor, made of layered plates similar to scales, performed better in independent ballistic tests than the Army’s Interceptor Body Armor.

Army officials testified that Dragon Skin has failed numerous tests over the years, saying the ceramic plates fall apart after exposure to extreme heat and cold. All four services have banned use of the armor for general combat use.

more...

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=47963

[AtomicKitten]

1. K&R: Our government chooses the military-industrial complex coffers

over our soldiers ... yet again

Democrats should be screaming about this.

K&R :thumbsup: