NIJ Threat Levels 2018

The straight stuff on what the NIJ Threat Levels mean for body armor. The NIJ standards classify body armor by their levels of ballistic performance against what the NIJ has defined as standard threats. In their words the protocol is that “the bullets do not penetrate the vest (armor) and that the vest (armor) protects against blunt force trauma.”  The NIJ standard is the only nationally accepted standard for body armor for Law Enforcement (LEO) and Corrections officers. In order to establish a test baseline and a repeatable test protocols the NIJ defined a standard set of pistols and rifles threats that LEO’s are likely to encounter and a standard round for each of these weapons. The attached graphic depicts these rounds by caliber and by their NIJ Threat Level. 

The first seven (7) rounds across the bottom of the graph encapsulate the pistol calibers the NIJ uses to test Level II and Level IIIA body armor, specifically designed to defeat all the standard pistol calibers. The remaining five (5) rounds are the rifle caliber rounds the NIJ uses to test Level III and Level IV body armor which are specifically designed to defeat these standard rifle rounds.

Level II and Level IIIA body armor is for LEO’s, Corrections Officers and civilians who expect to face only pistol threats. Level III and Level IV body armor is for LEO’s, Corrections Officers and civilians who expect to face both pistol and rifle threats. 

You will note that AR500 Armor offers standard Level III armor, Level III Lightweight armor, Level III+ armor and Level III+ Lightweight armor. All four (4) of these Level III variants will stop all Level III threats on the graph. Their differences in performance will be the subject of a future blog. 

There are a host of  certified labs in the United States that do NIJ Certification testing (https://www.justnet.org/compliant/NIJ-approved-labs.html), the one we use is Oregon Ballistics Laboratories who is certified to test in accordance with NIJ-STD-0101.06. All test articles sent are 10″ x 12″ and are shot six (6) times each on an equidistance grid across the face of the armor. They are shot with the standard rounds in the graphic, at a distance of 16.5 feet for pistol rounds and 51 feet for rifle rounds. Velocity of the rounds is measured at 8.25 feet from the target. All test data and conditions are published in the certification report. The armor must effectively defeat all six (6) rounds.

The protocol is under constant review and is expected to change in the near future as new rounds become more popular and velocities change with those and different barrel lengths. AR500 Armor will update our blog accordingly.