US NIJ Standard Bulletproof Classification

There are various standards for bulletproof level in different countries, but the commonly used one is the US NIJ standard. There are six levels in this standard, namely: Level I, IIA, II, IIIA, III, and IV and the protective ability ranges from low to high. Level IIIA requires withstanding 9mm pistol with micro impact firing, with a bullet speed of 420m/s.

US NIJ Standard Bulletproof Classification

    There are various standards for bulletproof level in different countries, but the commonly used one is the US NIJ standard. There are six levels in this standard, namely: Level I, IIA, II, IIIA, III, and IV and the protective ability ranges from low to high. 

    Level IIIA requires withstanding 9mm pistol with micro impact firing, with a bullet speed of 420m/s. Each level below Level IIIA is required to withstand 9mm handguns, with a bullet speed of below 360m/s. Generally, customers require the protection level of bulletproof vests to be Level IIIA. Level III protection involves adding two ceramic bulletproof plates at the front and back of the NIJ IIIA bulletproof vests, with a size of 300mm * 250mm, thickness of 18mm and weight of 2.6kg. This level requires the ability to withstand NATO M80 bullets (7.62 * 51 bullets, bullet speed of 800m/s), as well as ordinary bullets fired by AK-47 and 56 rifles. Level IV requires the addition of ceramic plates, with a thickness of 21mm and a weight of 3.3kg. It is required to be able to withstand armor piercing bullets launched by M1, with a velocity of 850m/s.

    Bulletproof vests below Level IIIA are soft and do not need ceramic plates. The bulletproof layer material of soft vests can be divided into domestic and imported materials. The domestic material is white ultra-high strength polyethylene fiber; The imported material is yellow KEVLAR; The price of bulletproof vests is related to the materials used and also to the protective area. The larger the area, the higher the price. Common bulletproof vests have three types of protection areas: vest type (0.27 square meters) vest type (0.32 square meters) fully protected type (0.60 square meters, with crotch protection).

    According to the bulletproof performance, this standard divides the ballistic protection capability of bulletproof vests into 7 levels. The ballistic threat posed by bullets to the human body is related to factors such as the composition, shape, caliber, mass, incidence angle, and impact velocity of the bullet. Due to the diversity of bullets and the fact that bullets of the same caliber can have different casings, as well as the presence of hand loaded ammunition, bulletproof vests that can withstand the testing of bullets of a certain caliber in this standard may not be able to withstand the firing of bullets of the same caliber but with different dosing methods. For example, a bulletproof vest that can prevent 40S&W from completely penetrating may not necessarily be able to withstand higher speed 40S&W shooting tests.

    In short, bulletproof vests that can defend against specific calibers may not necessarily be able to withstand complete penetration by bullets of different structures or structures under the same caliber.