Combating terrorism technical support office/ Technical Support Working Group

5.6 Personnel Protection (PP)

Attacks on embassies and other government facilities place quick reaction forces and personnel recovery teams in harm’s way. Fire fights, severe injuries, and the need to maintain radio silence can leave operators unable to communicate their health and injury status to the command post. Develop the ability to remotely monitor the health status of incident responders. Sensors shall be designed for emplacement without removing clothing (Objective) and capture the responder’s heart rate and temperature. Sensors shall operate for four (Threshold) to six (Objective) hours without operator intervention, and shall be reusable. Lifetime requirements for sensors are directly proportional to costs.

Couriers moving controlled materials between government facilities and mission personnel typically travel independently. This places the courier and the controlled materials at high risk of being targeted. Currently the only status communications come directly from the courier, leaving command center personnel unaware if the courier has been captured or injured and/or the controlled materials compromised.

U.S. Special Operations Forces encounter high power rifle threats in areas of operation worldwide. A full coverage helmet capable of defeating these threats could greatly increase the survivability of operators. Special Operations Forces require scalable personal protection equipment that offers increased coverage and threat protection, allowing them to select appropriate protection for each mission. Increased head protection could exponentially increase the survivability of operators in high threat environments.

7.62 x 39 mm MSC at a velocity of 2400 ft/s to 2450 ft/s with backface deformation no greater than 25.4 mm. The helmet shall also provide impact attenuation at 10 ft/s in accordance with the Department of Transportation Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 218. The helmet shall meet the “top to bottom” and “side to side” compression resistance requirements of CO/PD-05-04 when subjected to cyclic loads of 400 and 300 pounds, respectively.

Special Operations Forces requires a lightweight, tactical, stand-alone ballistic plate capable of defeating the 7.62 x 51 mm M993 projectile threat. Armor systems capable of defeating the specified threat exist in the conventional forces’ inventory. These systems are extremely thick and heavy and compromise Special Operations Forces’ missions due to their bulk and weight. A lighter, thinner armor solution would enable greater mobility, lower visible signature, and the opportunity to carry other equipment due to the weight reduction.

Federal and local law enforcement tactical teams use full coverage helmets when conducting raids and forced entry operations. The helmets include mandible protection, but leave the face unprotected from ballistic threats. There is a need for transparent armor that can be integrated into the existing head protection systems. Integrating National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Level IIIA capable, transparent armor into existing head protection systems would close the ballistic window that currently leaves the operator’s face exposed. Providing this area of protection will increase the survivability of the operator when confronted with small arms fire.

Improvised explosive devices, rocket propelled grenades, and small arms fire remain prevalent threats against motorcades, convoys, and single vehicle operations. Vehicle occupants are often unable to activate onboard tagging, tracking, and locating (TTL) devices following such events due to incapacitation. Develop a single hardened package that integrates the previously developed threat sensing capability with a TTL device with a single communications path (satellite) (Threshold), or with multiple communications paths (Objective) to provide a faster and more reliable emergency notification. The hardened system shall be operational while being subjected to 50 pounds of TNT or equivalent for buried underbelly blasts and side blasts at a distance of 3 meters to armored (Threshold) and unarmored (Objective) vehicles and validated for field deployment.

The population of females in law enforcement and military roles continues to grow substantially. These female armor wearers are conducting their duties in environments that put them at risk of incurring bodily injury from ballistic threats. Current body armor testing protocols do not adequately address shape and curvature of armors intended for use by female wearers, primarily in the bust area. As a result it is not certain if service issued body armor systems are providing the same level of protection for both genders, or if the performance metrics for male and female wearers are the same. Body armor testing protocols must address the construction differences between armors intended for wearers of both genders in order to properly assess a female armor system.

To date, there are no specific performance metrics identified for female body armor pass/fail parameters. These parameters are necessary to properly measure trauma related to body armor back face deformation (BFD) from a ballistic impact of the bust region for females. This leaves a great deal of uncertainty in the probability and severity of injury from BFD and makes it difficult for manufactures to address design concerns specifically related to protection levels/coverage of female armor systems.

Security forces transporting high risk personnel (HRP) or executing on-the-move vehicle operations in high risk environments are targets for incoming small arms fire. If subjected to incoming small arms fire, security forces gain an advantage when provided timely information regarding the firing source (bearing, elevation, range). These advantages lead to improved tactics for returning fire, and/or apprehending the shooter(s), and avoiding future fire. Current military, mast-mounted acoustic gunshot detection systems are generally not practical for law enforcement/civilian vehicle operations due to the system size and construction.