Press Vest - New Body Armour for Journalists
Centurion has been looking at some new body armour made by Jack Ellis Body Protection of Glenfield, near Leicester, UK. Made from a new material called Protexa, it is an innovative and simply designed protective vest that offers easy-to-wear, lightweight protection from ballistic and stab attack, plus protection from fragmentation and kicks and blows to the torso.
Most level 111a body armour will stop a 9 mm bullet fired single shot only from a sub-machine gun. Jack Ellis body armour will stop 9 mm bullets fired in bursts. At a test demonstration we saw a version known as the Press Vest fired at with the following weapons from a distance of around 10 metres:
- 9 mm Uzi sub-machine gun (three four-round bursts)
- .357 Magnum revolver (six rounds)
- .44 Magnum revolver (six rounds)
- 12 bore shotgun (one round solid shot)
- 12 bore shotgun (one round Special Gauge)
- further six-round burst from the Uzi.
None of these rounds penetrated the armour even after nearly 30 rounds had been fired at the vest. After each weapon was fired the vest was checked for back face displacement (blunt trauma) and all were within the approved level of 44 mm.
The vest was also put through the Police Scientific Development Board stab resistance test at Knife Resistant levels 1, 2 and 3 and passed those with considerable ease. It is a point to note that many ballistic vests will not stop knives, or will only stop knives of a certain type and will not stop long, sharp-pointed objects like a sharpened screw driver, an ice pick or a syringe. The Jack Ellis vest will.
The Protexa material is also completely waterproof, having been designed for use in armoured life jackets used by Coast Guards and Special Forces boat crews. The efficiency of many Kevlar jackets will be reduced if the material gets wet. Hence most vests have a protective outer. The integrity of the vest can be seriously affected if the outer is breached.
The Jack Ellis vest is lightweight, well tailored and comes with neck and detachable groin protection. It can be fitted with lightweight level 111 Dyneema plates or heavier ceramic level 4 plates. The jacket weights about 7.9 kg with lightweight Dyneema plates.
For further information contact Centurion.
Jack Ellis body armour is available from Carl H. Chaffee of Expedition Kit Ltd at:
Web: www.expeditionkit.co.uk
Email: carlchaffee@yahoo.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 7266 5443
Mobile: +44 (0)7767 326288
