Are U.S. soldiers wearing the best body armor?

Independent ballistics tests commissioned by NBC News raise new questions about whether America’s fighting men and women really do have the best body armor available.

The Army insists the body armor troops are now wearing — called Interceptor — is the very best in the world.  And, without question, those vests have saved lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But an NBC investigation suggests there may be something even better out there called Dragon Skin, a flexible body armor of interconnected ceramic discs.  

In our limited testing at a renowned ballistics lab in Germany, Dragon Skin was able to defeat more bullets than the Army’s Interceptor and did so with significantly less body trauma.

Dragon Skin repelled volley after volley of the most lethal types of ammunition, including armor-piercing rounds, armor-piercing incendiary rounds as well as a “composite” round so deadly that the U.S. Army has asked NBC News not to describe it with specificity.

Retired 4-star Gen. Wayne Downing, a decorated commander of U.S. special operations forces and an NBC News analyst, observed the tests.  He says he was impressed that Dragon Skin defeated every single round fired at it in these limited tests:

GEN. WAYNE DOWNING: What we saw today, Lisa, and again it’s a limited number of trials, Dragon Skin was significantly better.

LISA MYERS: Was this a fair side-by-side test?

DOWNING:  Well, it was totally fair.  And the Interceptor Body Armor did quite well.  It’s just that Dragon Skin did better.  It deserves a full, unbiased test by a neutral party.  Because I thought it was pretty dog-gone good.

Since NBC News first reported this story three days ago, prominent Democratic senators have called for an independent investigation to determine which body armor really is best.

NBC News commissioned independent testing because body armor experts, combat soldiers and military families have charged that the U.S. Army has not fairly evaluated Dragon Skin.  In fact, the Army banned it last year.

Brig. Gen. Mark Brown, who’s in charge of body armor for the Army, says the Army tested Dragon Skin last May and wasn’t impressed.  “Dragon Skin failed miserably,” he says.

According to Brown, the Army tested Dragon Skin in extreme heat and extreme cold —environments that can parallel conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An Army briefing paper provided to NBC News says, Dragon Skin “suffered catastrophic failures at -60º Fahrenheit, 120ºF and at 160ºF” and Army officials charge that the adhesive holding the discs together failed, causing the discs to separate.

BRIG. GEN. BROWN: Thirteen of 48 shots that were taken at Dragon Skin were penetrating, full penetrating shots.

LISA MYERS: So Dragon Skin failed?

BROWN: Very — very badly, yes.

MYERS: Even in ambient conditions?

BROWN: Even in room temperature, ambient conditions.

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