Armored Infantry Will Work - Already Proven

harrymarnell.com...
www.emergency.com...

On Feb. 28, 1997, two bank robbers dressed in body armor from toe to neck and carrying assault rifles turned North Hollywood into hell.

When they exited the Bank of America, patrol officers armed with 9mm duty pistols ordered them to freeze and drop their weapons. The robbers immediately opened up with AK-47s. Officers returned fire:

Officers said that the bullets from their 9mm handguns "bounced off and they mushroomed and they fell to the ground" off the suspects.

This gunbattle was so dangerous and the police were so outgunned that officers went to a nearby gun shop to seek heavier firepower. The owner of the gunshop said, "These people had body armor and they (the police) needed something that would break body armor, We supplied them with slugs that would at least break bones on someone wearing body armor."

Eventually 350 cops responded to the scene. Two untrained bank robbers wearing improvisation to body armor turned themselves into homemade Robocops.

It should really be neat to see what Infantry are going to develop into with personal body armor. It'll probably be something like this, but a hell of a lot more workable.

It would be a great idea, but it would be exspensive. If any country decides to give there troops body armor it will be America.

I watched a documentary about that inccident, didn't the owned of the gun show have some old M16'z lying around the back of the shop

I remember watching that on the news. Later they said that if the robbers would have actually been aiming instead of firing at random, the could have taken out over 100 police officers. Silly policeman, handguns are for civilians. At least the don't do much to body armor.

Soldiers already wear body armor. The Interceptor can stop 7.62x51mm at 0m, giving the soldier great protection against any kind of small arms fire.
globalsecurity.org...


There's a shortage of it because the supply troops need it, being exposed and all.

The problem is weight, mobility and heat. The better the protection the more it weighs, the less mobility you have and the hotter you get. The military already uses body armor, but it only covers the essentials. Im sure you can find a video of the bank robery (im pretty sure there was even a TV movie about it.) you can see in the video these guys are just walking around not diving and running too much. Now imagine adding a full combat load to them (ie food, ammo, radios, clothes, etc..) If you wana see a good exaple of what is in use now watch "Blackhawk Down" That is the same type used today by most infantry and some SOF units.

EDIT: link and spelling
Here is a cool link that shows what is in development. But the problem is more hi-tech + more batteries = more weight
www.apfn.org...



[edit on 14-10-2004 by Ronan]

[edit on 14-10-2004 by Ronan]

Governments spend billion on killing opposition troops, yet spend as little as possible on defending their own troops

Protecting your own troops means more of them to kill the opposition

There needs to be a massive investment of defensive technology for the standard infantry man/woman

Originally posted by Ronan
The problem is weight, mobility and heat. The better the protection the more it weighs, the less mobility you have and the hotter you get. The military already uses body armor, but it only covers the essentials.

Those problems can be overcome. There's potential here that's far greater than developing new armored vehicles and aircraft. As far as covering the essentials, 'essentials' is a relative term. Your whole body is essential. Right now the vests and helmets simply help keep a soldier from sustaining instantly mortal wounds. They don't do a lot to keep a soldier in a fight. Also, death rates for soldiers in Iraq is down because of the life-saving armor. They still end up wounded, out of action and out of limbs.

If an AK-47 round hits you in almost any area unprotected by body armor, you're out of the fight. Better armor, akin to the concept these two untrained dopes had, can actually make troops bulletproof and fragproof.

I think troops deserve this more than the Air Force deserves another space plane.

Did you see the film based on it?

Originally posted by taibunsuu
If an AK-47 round hits you in almost any area unprotected by body armor, you're out of the fight. Better armor, akin to the concept these two untrained dopes had, can actually make troops bulletproof and fragproof.

Tai, you should know that nothing is bulletproof as much as bullet resistant. Even taking a round to a vest can cause death from sheer concussive force.

However, the alternative is an AK round taking your leg off at the knee or your arm off at the elbow.

Me? I'm getting mighty anxious to see the rebirth of the heavy infantryman. It would totally reshape the battlefield.

DE

Originally posted by DeusEx

Me? I'm getting mighty anxious to see the rebirth of the heavy infantryman. It would totally reshape the battlefield.

DE

Sure! Look how the infantryman might look like!. Sheer elegance.
Yes, it is a real bulletproof vest.

Sorry the text in this link is in Russian, but... Excellent tailoring

[edit on 14-10-2004 by Aelita]

If I remeber correctly, one of the robbers was killed by a pistol bullet. He was shot in the head..

Full and effective body armor is a long way to go. We don't have the materials which are light enough and still stop a rifle bullet without breaking the bones of the wearer. There are experiments going on with a spider-web like material, but it won't absorb the kinetic energy of the bullet, and thus it's almost useless.

www.rusarm.ru... (Click "Special Forces" and there, below "Personal Protection Means" you can check out some vests which the russians export.)

EDIT: Added link..

[edit on 14-10-2004 by Judge DredD]

Carbon nanotubes are very promising for body, being 1/6 the weight of steel while being 100 times stronger. You could give a soldier complete fragment coverage and 7.62mm coverage for 10 pounds

Just a thought but maybe this would be enough to make any body armor fail?

An M2 50 caliber Machine Gun should do nicely against any full suit body armor as you have suggested. If you want real destruction, you could try some depleted uranium rounds, just in case nothing else works. These things already easily go through engine blocks, so I think the best defense is staying out of the way. I think you could do more than just "break bones," with these babies.

Caliber .50 Cartridges

[edit on 14-10-2004 by SkipShipman]

Those robbers didn't have head protection. Yes, they were untrained dumbies.

Not every soldier on battlefield is carrying an M2 50-cal. Also, most battlefield injuries are from fragmentation, not bullets.

There really hasn't been heavy infantry in the world since like 13th century. What has to happen is protective technology > damaging technology.

Actually a few defense companies are working on some prototype infantry armor at the moment, I remember hearing about it on the history channel. The new armor is actually a type of plate armor that is a hybrid material made of kevlar and ceramic. (It may have been in reference to the new Interceptor armor).



I imagine there will be a point when at least spec ops soldiers have full environmental armor. This would integrate all your NBC defenses as well as some mild protection against small arms fire and fragmentation damage. It would be pretty easy to intergrate a type of liquid cooling system that would keep the soldiers from getting heatstroke, or a heating system for winter combat conditions.

[edit on 15-10-2004 by daeldren]