>>64264456
All make sense. My thinking is that this will only incidentally increase v50s, since there's too many variables to conclusively say they will raise protection by this amount or this added velocity against this threat 100% of the time.
You would have to run batch tests to get reliable conclusions, which like you said cost army science money.
Similarly, I'm intrigued by the possibility of especially robust trauma pads that attach to the wear side of the platecarrier, as the Russian KAPs do instead of riding in the platebag behind the plate, being used to retrofit poorly performing armor like the RMA XRT to reduce BFD to less tenous levels or used to retrofit stronger plates, such as the Hesco 4403, to be capable of withstanding higher caliber or more energetic rounds without blowing the NIJ 44mm limit and inducing excessive behind armor blunt trauma. Adept is working on some "Ivoryguard" impact foam that I suspect is going into a perfected version of the .50 cal Colossus Heavy. I'd like to see (besides NIJ certs for at least one of their models...) how that Ivoryguard would function as a "super-KAP" 1" thick trauma pad.
https://www.ade.pt/ivoryguard/