Level III Body Armor Plate (Model #1088) NIJ .06 Certified

What makes polyethylene Level 3 body armor so impressive is that it can defeat an array of rifle rounds, from large caliber rifle rounds such as the m80 NATO or high-velocity rounds like the m193. Some other common rifle rounds that lightweight level 3 body armor can defeat includes your common 5.56 full metal jacket rounds or 7.62×39 mild steel core rounds. In the ballistics category, one major thing separates lightweight polyethylene Level 3 armor from ar500 level 3 armor is its ability to stop the m193 round, which typically, will buzz right through ar500 steel armor.

To officially become NIJ .06 Certified at level 3, a body armor plate must defeat SIX rounds of a m80 NATO round. RMA boasts three lightweight Level 3 body armor plates on the NIJ’s compliant product list. The Model 1078, Model 1088 and multi-curve models 1061-1064.

The main component of all RMA’s level 3 body armor is ultra high molecular weight polyethylene – or UHMWPE.

RMA builds each of its NIJ .06 certified level 3 body armor plates with a different material. However, each body armor plate is built by first cutting out the various UHMWPE material on the cutting table, before being pressed out by one of RMA’s two hydraulic presses which gives them their rigid ballistic capability.

Simply put, lightweight armor building materials are more expensive. If you compare RMA’s Level 4 model 1155 body armor plate to the Level 3 model 1078 body armor plate, there is a five pound weight difference. The heavier materials that make up the 1155 armor plate are much less expensive than the UHMWPE that makes up about 98% the entirety of a level 3 plate. Because American made UHMWPE is an expensive material, Level 3 plates are more expensive than cost effective level 4 armor plates.

One of the most common body armor questions we get is in regards to our body armor’s temperature sensitivity. Simply put, RMA’s body armor will continue to work as intended in just about any temperature environment. During NIJ .06 certification testing, each plate is left in a temperature chamber for two weeks, where the temperature changes periodically, from temperatures as low as 5 degrees fahrenheit to a high of 194 degrees. The varying temperature changes over those two weeks ensure that the materials used in building armor plates can maintain their form and function. The temperature test is done on each test before it is ballistically tested for compliance.

So can you leave your RMA body armor in the trunk of your car in Texas, Florida, etc and rely on it to perform? Simply put. Yes.

Right off the bat, the main difference is weight. Polyethylene Level 3 body armor plates typically weigh between 3 and 3.5 pounds, while steel level III body armor plates weigh anywhere from 7 to 9+ pounds.

Ballistics is another key component between the two types of Level 3 armor. While both poly and steel plates will defeat the standard m80 NATO rounds, high velocity threats like the m193 are defeated by lightweight polyethylene armor plates, but will NOT typically be defeated by ar500 steel armor. That’s one of the main reasons that the upcoming .07 NIJ Certification Standard lists the m193 as an essential Level 3 (or RF1) threat. It’ll show a direct delineation between which body armor plates  are worthy of NIJ Certification.

The final main difference between lightweight level 3 body armor and steel level 3 body armor is spalling. A lightweight, polyethylene level 3 plate produces no spalling at all. The lightweight plates will eat up all of the bullet and it’s fragments, leaving behind no dangerous jacket spall. Steel on the other hand will splinter the round apart and send jacket shrapnel flying, only to ricochet off the plate in many directions and potentially cause residual damage. The reason many steel plates have a polyurea spray lining is to help encapsulate the steel and bullet fragments.