Body Armor Standards and Testing
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Published Body Armor Standards
Performance standards ensure that commercially available armor meets minimum performance requirements. NIJ has published standards for both ballistic and stab resistance of personal body armor:
- Ballistic Resistance of Personal Body Armor, NIJ Standard-0101.06, National Institute of Justice, July 2008, NCJ 223054. This standard supersedes:
- NIJ 2005 Interim Requirements for Bullet-Resistant Body Armor (doc, 4 pages), September 2005. These requirements modify and supplement NIJ Standard-0101.04.
- Ballistic Resistance of Personal Body Armor, NIJ Standard-0101.04, National Institute of Justice, November 2000, NCJ 183651.
- Stab Resistance of Personal Body Armor, NIJ Standard-0115.00, National Institute of Justice, November 2000, NCJ 183652.
Body Armor Compliance Testing
During testing, independent laboratories that have been certified by NIJ put body armor through a series of tests to verify that it complies with NIJ's performance Standard. The National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center system administers the voluntary body armor program. Their website describes the two major programs:
Date Reviewed: January 3, 2011
