Army recalls body armor ballistic inserts
Thursday, February 5th, 2009The Department of Defense Inspector General is recalling 16,413 sets (32, 826 individual plates) of Enhanced Small Arms Protective Insert plates, which actually accounts for less than 2% of the Army’s total inventory of plates, despite the “ok” from the Army and the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation. The Army maintains that the inserts protect the soldiers who wear them, but to set aside fears of them failing, has recalled them until a final conclusion has been determined.
According to the Department of Defense, three of the eight designs originally tested actually failed. The Inspector General report of January 29, 2008 suggested that the testing on some of the plate inserts. In fact, the Department of Defense does not claim that the plates are prone to failure, merely that the testing methods are inconclusive. The report says “We did not review the safety of the ballistic inserts, therefore, we did not determine whether these inserts provide the protection intended.”
The claim not only questions the results found by internal Army testing, but also the results of an independent assessment and the findings of the Department of Test and Evaluation.
Due to the disagreement between the two departments on the safetey findings, the Secretary of the Army Pete Geren has been asked to moderate.