RLGaming.com

Michael Yon, an excellent correspondent/blogger that has spent a whole lot of time in Iraq (like almost all of '07 out with the troops, not in a hotel in the green zone) is selling his dragonskin because in his words...." I paid approximately $4,000 for this body armor but would not recommend it to any buyer who plans to use it in combat. I do not like Dragon Skin for various reasons. The Dragon Skin is too heavy and also relatively difficult to wear. If you fall in the water with this body armor, I think you will drown before you can shed the Dragon Skin, or if you are trapped in tangled wreckage after an IED, you will have an extremely difficult time shedding the Dragon Skin. There is no quick release and it’s plain hard to get in and out of. I talked with a Special Forces soldier some months ago about body armor. His humvee was hit with an EFP and was burning. He said that if not for the quick release on his armor, he said he would have burned up.

Again, please do not buy this for combat. There are cheaper body armors that are better. I’m starting the bid at $1 and will use the proceeds to return to Iraq at the end of January."

I can find ATM the related articles on how dragonskin failed its initial Army testing but IIRC it failed on the second shot with a fatal penetration. oh and it weighs 40 pounds more then the armor in use right now. Not sure about you but all that heat and an additional 40 lbs.....yikes, also they have delamination problems due to heat soak...so places like oh I dont know....Iraq where it gets umm HOT, is going to cause problems methinks. Of course its makers are crying foul and there is a big shit-storm over it in the halls of congress (yes those people) and anyway.....here is the ebay link if you wanted some not to good armor for cheap.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... =p3907.m29

If I can find the links I'll post them here

Well If I remember my info on dragon skin, it made form overlapping pieces of a specialized ceramic (looks like scales hence the name), seen it on several shows on tv, they state the ceramic is meant to break up which makes me wonder how it can take several hits and also ceramic is not light, also made me wonder how useful this stuff was.

now after reading this I am laughing as they never did say it was heavy on the tv shows, and also never mentioned hard to move in. Ceramic may bay be highly effective in stopping bullets but sounds like in this instance its not the best as hey it may save you from the first bullet but if you cant move to make sure the next 20 headed your way don't hit it kind of not helping you out.

Well current armor is made of thin ceramic plates sandwiched between kevlar in multiple layers. The problem with the current armor is that it tends to shatter and thus reduce effectiveness on multiple hits in the same area.

Dragon skin is made of ceramic/kevlar disks in arrays and was supposed to allow for overlapping multiple impact protection in the same area....but it seems they are having problems. At least according to the Army testers. In late '07 (after Dragonscale failed its certification test) the Army issued a order to not allow any privately purchased armor for use in combat other than Army certified armor.

if I remember right the metal plates put in vests over vital organes for added protection there has been replaced with ceramic plates as well correct ??. Usually one over the heart and such.

found the articles...

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/new ... -armor.htm

and

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,1 ... html?wh=wh

and

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,1 ... 93,00.html

and

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003567.html

This quote from the article tells me exactlay why we don't want dragon skin

Neal argued in a release after last year's tests that Masters and another Army ballistics expert were dumbfounded by the "flexible armor system" and weren't sure where to place the shots for the test.

Where not sure where to place the shot, UM in a battle zone you can't ask the enemy to shoot you at this specific spot on your armor and only that spot. So if thats your case of you think the shots where not in the right spot then the armor is complete junk as you are telling me it basically only stops bullets that hit at the proper angle and spot.


Second best quote

Neal said the Army manipulated the x-ray photos, but admitted one vest had an adhesive "anomaly."

Um if you are going to testing wouldn't you want the best vests of a line. and even if its pure random, if in a testing sample you get a adhesive "anomaly." then again the vest is not u to grade.

so why did this guy buy it in the first place?

guy who bought it in first place told it was best thing since sliced bread.

Buy I quoted is one of big guys in the company that makes it. Read th secondary articles buff posted.

Steel, he was contacted by Pinnacle Armor and offered a discounted set for approx $4K, wonder what the full price is? He's prolly the most respected of the mil-bloggers out there. I mean he spends a LOT of time out with the guys living with them, going on OPs with them, and he calls it pretty straight. He has ruffled some feathers with the Brass but he is fair. If you have the time I highly suggest reading his work on his blog.

My guess is that Pinnacle Armor contacted him because 1 it is good PR for them for people like Yon to say he's wearing their stuff in combat because many people in the military read his work, and 2 er....well see 1 lol.

Anyway, I just thought it was an interesting issue and auction

More info on body armor........

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/T ... y_armo.asp

I just had a interesting thought, anyone got any idea what body armor is used by Canada and the UK. Would be interesting to see what other countries use.

VEGETA wrote:I just had a interesting thought, anyone got any idea what body armor is used by Canada and the UK. Would be interesting to see what other countries use.

Here is some info:

http://www.army.mod.uk/equipment/pw/plce.htm