"Dragon Skin" Body Armor

[GhostBear]

Was watching Future Weapons the other night and it was a repeat from afew years ago.

On the show however they were showcasing this chest rig called "Dragon Skin", i had never herd of it before but it looked superior to the interceptor body armor in every way. I was wondering if anyone knows what happened to this armor?

I realise future weapons isnt exactly the most accurate or un-biased show but i was seriously impressed by what this appeared to be able to do.

Heres a link for the 2 parts of the show containing the "dragon skin":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYaSRIbPWkM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_HRQNd84ZA&feature=related

I mean, this show is like 3 years old and afaik no army is using this? I couldnt understand why as it looks leauges ahead of anything else i've seen. It disturbs me that we're not using things like this and providing our troops with an inferior alternative. Is there something that the show is missing out about the armor thats a disadvantage?

Apologys if this has been posted before, i did various name searches and nothing came up.

[shiftypowpow]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18790506/

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?117506-Department-Of-Justice-Announces-Findings-On-Dragon-Skin-Body-Armor

[JJC]

The company went under I think. They lied that they passed NIJ testing and their vest also failed DOD testing.

[Mu-Meson]

Shifty is swifty.
Yeah, Dragon Skin ain't all it was cracked up to be.

[GhostBear]

Cheers guys. Damn i fail at searching, tried all kinds of combinations of spelling and what not and nothing came up.

Thats a real shame it didnt turn out to be all that. It certainly sounded impressive :(

[Stukka 44]

They are still in business, you can find out more about dragonskin on their website :http://www.pinnaclearmor.com/
I know the U.S. military tested this type of body armor but it didn't pass all of the tests. Interesting concept but probably needs some more development and fine tuning before it can be field used by the military.

[RSone]

A loot of hoopla around the armour and Pinnacle. Didn't the U.S. Army claim that the epoxy(or whatever it is that holds the disks together) couldn't stand up to heat testing?

[pascalywood]

A loot of hoopla around the armour and Pinnacle. Didn't the U.S. Army claim that the epoxy(or whatever it is that holds the disks together) couldn't stand up to heat testing?

IIRC, the vest fell apart when exposed to extreme heat or cold.

[LineDoggie]

And god forbid a round was shot at you from other than 90 degree angle to your front or back it might as well not be there

[vinny_121_ND]

plus it's 48 pounds.

[miguelencanarias]

Actually, didn't the Army issue an order to all units explicitly forbidding the use of privately-purchased Dragon Skin vests due to the danger involved?

[James]

Actually, didn't the Army issue an order to all units explicitly forbidding the use of privately-purchased Dragon Skin vests due to the danger involved?

Yes. Dragon skin is far heavier and bulkier than kevlar + plates and fails in high temperatures. Pinnacle also lied about the NIJ certification for Dragonskin.

[Roaming East]

yeah, and then they apparently continued issuing the stuff to operators and protective details.

[TheMuffinKing]

yeah, and then they apparently continued issuing the stuff to operators and protective details.

Most of those groups are given a lot of leeway in terms of gear acquisition. In some cases I think that these operators and protection details had determined dragonskin to be the best armor for the mission.

[custodes]

I hope we don't completely drop the "scale-mail" idea. Once the materials are worked out, it could be excellent.

Idea sound. Composites off.

[brainplay]

I hope we don't completely drop the "scale-mail" idea. Once the materials are worked out, it could be excellent.

Idea sound. Composites off.

No it wouldn't. Repair and replacement of a scale vest damaged by gunfire is more expensive and resource consuming than replacing a simple plate. The scales are hot pressure sandwiched between two layers of kevlar to help keep them together and can't be fixed in the field requiring you to send them back to the states for repair. Because of the design the scale vests are the vest with a carrier covering the outside where as plates are just plates that fit into pouch on a kevlar lined flak vest or light weight carrier.

At best you could attempt to follow the plate route and make squares of the scales to slip into the pouches. Since they're heavier and more expensive it begs the question of why not go to a heavier plate composite plate? Most modern plates are moving away from old fashioned monolith ceramics to better multi-hit composites.

[custodes]

No it wouldn't. Repair and replacement of a scale vest damaged by gunfire is more expensive and resource consuming than replacing a simple plate. The scales are hot pressure sandwiched between two layers of kevlar to help keep them together and can't be fixed in the field requiring you to send them back to the states for repair. Because of the design the scale vests are the vest with a carrier covering the outside where as plates are just plates that fit into pouch on a kevlar lined flak vest or light weight carrier.

At best you could attempt to follow the plate route and make squares of the scales to slip into the pouches. Since they're heavier and more expensive it begs the question of why not go to a heavier plate composite plate? Most modern plates are moving away from old fashioned monolith ceramics to better multi-hit composites.


Like I said. The materials aren't ready for the concept.

[deagle]

that former SEAL was wrong ? looked promising, but tweaks coulda been done to make it more effective

[James]

Most of those groups are given a lot of leeway in terms of gear acquisition. In some cases I think that these operators and protection details had determined dragonskin to be the best armor for the mission.

Nobody I've encountered ever chose dragonskin for themselves. Given a choice, most guys in A'Stan will roll with a plate carrier. The only people who wore dragonskin were support people who had little choice in what they were issued. Some bean counter at home probably saw the same show mentioned in this thread and thought it was good stuff, when in fact it's crap.


that former SEAL was wrong ? looked promising, but tweaks coulda been done to make it more effective

Did he test the armor at various angles at temps above 120F? Dragonskin was a poor solution for a nonexistent problem.

Here are some tweaks - use a base layer of soft kevlar, and instead of a bunch of little discs, put one big plate in the front and one in the back. Wait, that sounds familiar...