Manufacturers answer military's call to reduce body armor weight.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: SOLDIER PROTECTION

Lighten the load.

That has been the refrain from the Army and Marine Corps for nearly a decade as they seek to subtract pounds from the equipment that dismounted troops must carry into the field.

Two major suppliers of the materials used in body armor and helmets have come forward with new products that they say will address the problem.

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The new fiber and resin blends can either increase the protection for those wearing the armor, or maintain current military specifications with less material and, therefore, less weight.

The prevalence of roadside bombs has prompted manufacturers to boost protection for troops most notably with better armor on their trucks or combat vehicles. One manufacturer, Milliken, is also working to improve flame resistance embedded in uniform fabric in the event that a vehicle catches fire.

For dismounted war fighters, however, the trend is to decrease the number of pounds they must lug around. The Afghan surge, which requires more foot patrols than were carried out in Iraq, has reportedly fueled the push to lighten equipment.

"What we're seeing from the military is they want to reduce the weight," said Philip J. Wojcik, global business director of advanced fibers and composites and specialty products at Honeywell's Morris-town, N.J., division.

John Dottore, program manager for military and body armor at DuPont of Wilmington, Del., agreed. "They are asking us to lighten the load of the soldier. The initial application of it will be to reduce the weight of the helmet," he said of the company's new Kevlar XP material.

Honeywell is offering the new Spectra Shield II SR 3136 and SR 3137 hard armor material.

Army and Marine troops are carrying 30 to 40 pounds of armor, Wojcik said. "And it's a huge issue for places like Afghanistan. You're at [high] altitude; you're in rocky terrain, and you're running around trying to get your squad in position to carry out your mission. That weight really takes away from the effectiveness of the soldier."

The performance of armor is judged by how well it stops bullets from penetrating its defenses and the amount of "backface signature," or blunt force trauma, the projectile inflicts on the body after it has been stopped. A bullet or shrapnel fragment--if it makes it through the armor--can potentially cause a fatality. The blunt force inflicted on the victim may not kill, but can cause debilitating injuries.

"Minimizing that blunt trauma is also very important when...