Army Times/Newslines, Weapons and Warfare

Enter the Interceptor: Light Infantry Gets Even Lighter With New Armor

By Matthew Cox, Times News Staff

Being bulletproof in combat is comforting, but when it comes to fighting exhaustion, grunts often prefer to carry a lighter load.

Soon they will.

The Army is about to outfit its front-line soldiers with a new body armor that defeats .30-caliber rifle and machine-gun threats and weighs about 10 pounds less than the current armored protective system.

Interceptor, which features a vest and removable ceramic plates, is scheduled to be fielded this summer.

The joint design and procurement effort between the Army and the Marine Corps promises to give light-infantry forces a replacement for the Personnel Armor System, Ground Troop - the first-generation Kevlar vest that has been standard issue since the early 1980's.

The older, 9-pound vest offers fragmentation protection only, unless it is teamed up with a hard-plate system called the Interium Small Arms Protective Vest. Developed in 1996, the added system consists of front and back alumina oxide plates that can be worn over the frag vest for upgraded protection.

But while the duel system will stop a 7.62 mm NATO round, it weighs an unwieldy 25 pounds.

Army officials maintain that the Interceptor merges the two designs into a lighter, more comfortable system without compromising protection.

Interceptor consists of an 8-pound Kevlar vest with removable neck and groin guards that offer protection against fragmentation and 9 mm ammunition. Two removable, ceramic plates provide front and rear protection against the 7.62 mm NATO round.

The plates, which feature multiple curves to fit the body, are made of boron carbide - a thinner, lighter material that keeps the weight of the total system down to 15.5 pounds.

"It is elite. This is a large leap forward for us," said Maj. Bill Mason, project manager for Clothing and Equipment at the Army's Training and Doctrine Command Systems Manager at Fort Benning, Ga. "Soldiers carry too much weight now, so if we lower the weight by 10 pounds, it is significant. Weight is a huge issue."

Interceptor is designed to be worn with the Army's new Modular, Light-weight, Load-carrying Equipment, known as MOLLE.

The system, which is also scheduled to be issued this year, includes a modular pack system and vest with removable components to give soldiers mission-tailoring capacity.

"They are meant to work together," said Eric AmRhein, a mechanical engineer who leads the Army's effort on Interceptor for U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass.

Another comfort feature of Interceptor is the adjustment straps that let the soldier loosen the vest for more ventilation.

The old vest has limited adjustability and tends to come loose in a tactical situation, AmRhein said.

"Maneuverability, comfort - all these human factors are often difficult to assess until you put the system in place," he said.

A lighter, more protective vest

Besides undergoing extensive ballistic tests at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., Interceptor has been tested by soldiers and Marines in desert, jungle, arctic and amphibious environments.

Staff Sgt. Ted Runci, a Pre-Ranger instructor at Headquarters Company, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, served as an adviser to the selection committee at Natick.

Runci, 25, who served six years in the 2nd Ranger Battalion before becoming an instructor, said he liked how the removable pockets on the new load-bearing vest could be attached to the Interceptor.

But like any infantryman, Runci was most impressed by the new system's reduced weight.

"The biggest factor is morale," he said. "Nobody likes to carry a heavy load over a distance. Every pound counts."

The Army is scheduled to begin fielding Interceptor between July and September of this year.

Light infantry units like the 82nd Airborne Division will be the first to receive them later this year. But before that happens, the first 5,000 Interceptors to come off the production lines are scheduled to go into "contingency stock" and will be issued in case of a real world deployment.

"If a unit goes on one of those kick-the-door missions, {the Interceptors} will go to them," said John Dertzbaugh, soldier systems integrator for the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plats at the Pentagon. Dertzbaugh estimated each Interceptor set will cost about $1,700.

Not everyone, however, will receive both the vest and the plates, said Maj. Kathryn Westbrook, a project director for Project Manager-Soldier at Fort Belvoir, Va.

The plan is to issue the entire set to soldiers most likely to engage enemy forces.

Support soldiers in light infantry units will receive the vest only, she said.

When the vest and plates are worn together, the system is capable of stopping a NATO-standard 7.62x51 mm round, which has an average velocity of 850 meters per second.

By contrast, the 7.62x39 mm round, which is used in most AK-47-style Russian weapons, has an average muzzle velocity of 710 meters per second.

Mason said officials wanted the vest to offer protection against both rounds.

While Interceptor will offer some a second chance at survival, soldiers like Runci know it will never replace the need for proper infantry-movement skills.