>>63971788
>But that's another discussion.
Digits, and I agree. I tried to push that side a little with some of the new infographics.
I think a lot of the blame has to do with Ceradyne's delamination issue in 2013. They lost the SOCOM contracts, SOCOM went to LTC, plate technology on that side basically went back 5-10 years. Ceradyne went bust. That is fundamentally why hard armor has stagnated. Soft armor is because Honeywell isn't making any major moves, at least white-side.
The best armor manufacturer is now Tencate and they're having trouble making an XSAPI that weighs under 5.5lb and has a maximum BFD of 58mm against M993 @ 3,050ft/s.
If Tencate has trouble with that, I think there's more than just brain drain as to why Hesco isn't touching their 4520 (5.4lb M993 <44mm BFD ICW IIIA) with a ten foot pole and pretends it didn't exist eleven years ago.
>high speed guys in GWOT
And not to get pedantic, but it's interesting how SOCOM had multi-hit Level IV in 2004 and is currently running lighter, but not too much lighter B-32 API plates that have inferior protection. The very lightest a GEN-6 TSA can be is about 4lb flat for a swimmer medium, and that's pushing it. Only thing it gains over a six year old VS-PBZSA is M61 / B-32 API / M80A1 defeat. With Ceradyne gone we're down a lot of special tech that could be useful for making hard armor lighter and permitting more "weight-bulk budget" for wider-coverage soft armor.
>Large soft armor coverage should be emphasized
Absolutely, and 6000-series Spectra Shield may be the ticket to expanding on that.
>SmKH is probably the best analog.
Best analog in terms of design is 7.62x51 DM151, SmKH is a large-core WHA design that needs different parameters.
>I'm curious how well some newer PM steels would perform
Could you expand on that? I'd like to see if there's alternatives to WC too.