Improved fit and performance of female bulletproof vests

Abstract

The body armor for military personnel should provide a balance of protection and comfort. For both men and women, if body armor does not fit correctly and provide adequate coverage, it can adversely affect the safety and effectiveness. The design and manufacture of the body armor for female officers can present issues of particular concern. For now, Romania's female soldiers don't have any other choice than to wear men's body armor of smaller sizes, even though their body shape is different. For many women, that means wearing a standard issue vest that is tight across the torso and too loose around the middle can cause discomfort and offers less protection. The aim of the project was to develop a new protective bullet proof vest that is manufactured taking into account the female body shape, that provides comfort, mobility and adjustment possibilities, while superior ballistic resistance properties will be similar to the existing body armors. For morphological characterization of the target group, the women recruited in the national defense system, it was made an anthropometric survey using 3D scanning technology the human body in order to provide the necessary body size database to design the ballistic body armor. From primary anthropometric data we extracted the body dimensions required in designing the protective bullet proof vests. The novelty in the body armor design consist in taking into account the shape and cup size of Romanian female body. For the determination of the cup size we selected these critical dimensions: bust and under-bust circumferences.