Safariland has introduced its first hard-armor rifle plate meeting two national testing standards and providing officers protection against both 7.62x51mm and .30-cailber threats, the company announced today.

The HA-BR01 ICW BA-3A00S-BR01 is considered In Conjunction With (ICW) body armor, and meets the requirements of the National Institute of Justice's (NIJ) new Voluntary Body Armor Compliance Testing Program under NIJ Standard-0101.06 (NIJ-06).

An ICW hard-armor plate has been certified in conjunction with an NIJ-06 soft armor ballistic model: the Protech Type IIIA BR01 (BA-3A00S-BR01). This is the first Protech hard armor plate to satisfy both the NIJ-06 Type III and Type IV rifle-threat rounds and is the fifth hard-armor plate certified under the NIJ-06 standard. 

The HA-BR01 ICW BA-3A00S-BR01 is a seven-pound, ceramic, single-curve rectangular design with clipped corners. This hard-armor plate is part of the Protech Tactical line of hard-armor plates and has been tested in conjunction with Protech Type IIIA BR01 (BA-3A00S-BR01) flexible body armor against both NIJ-0101.06 Type III and Type IV rounds. The type III testing must defeat six impacts from a 7.62x51mm, 147-grain FMJ and the Type IV testing must defeat one impact from a .30-caliber M2-AP (Armor Piercing) round.

"The ICW BR01 hard armor rifle plate is tested in conjunction with NIJ-06 Type IIIA flexible soft body armor," according to Dan McNeil, category director for Safariland's Tactical Armor. "The addition of this plate to the Protech hard-armor plate offerings provides officers with a cost-effective hard-armor plate option for upgraded protection in conjunction with their BR01 soft-armor package."

According to the new NIJ-06 standard, hard armor must now be tested with uniformed thermal exposure, thermal cycling and mechanical durability testing. In addition, each hard-armor plate must be submerged in water and tested wet.