NIJ Standard 0101.07: New Body Armor Levels Are Changing the Game

There has been a major change to the way body armor protection levels are created and designated in the USA.

When it comes to bullet-resistant body armor, choosing the right protection level is your foremost consideration, and for the last 15 years in the US, ballistic threat ratings for non-military body armor were designated by the National Institute of Justice’s NIJ-STD 0101.06 ("STD" meaning "standard," in this case).

But now that standard has been totally overhauled.

Whether you’re a body armor user, supplier, or tester, Bulletproof Zone has got the main takeaways of NIJ’s updated standard 0101.07 plus those of the new reference standard 0123.00.

First though, a brief recap...

WHAT ARE BODY ARMOR STANDARDS & WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?

Body armor standards specify the minimum performance requirements and test methods for protective wear. Protective wear includes equipment like bulletproof vests and plate carriers designed to safeguard the major organs of the torso from penetration or blunt force trauma caused by projectiles and other threats. 

While standards apply to commercially available body armor for everyday private citizens, they exist primarily for law enforcement, police, and corrections officers, as well as other criminal justice agencies.

When purchasing body armor, official protection ratings provide the buyer confidence that what they’re getting has been rigorously and independently tested and either meets or exceeds minimum performance requirements. This means body armor that’s as safe, reliable, and effective as it possibly can be.

WHO SETS BODY ARMOR STANDARDS AROUND THE WORLD?

Globally, there isn’t a single unified standard for body armor. One of the reasons is that the threats from different firearms and different ammunition varies between countries.

So quite a few regulatory bodies worldwide set and maintain their own body armor standards. Some of the more well known include:

• GA141 in China

• The European Union’s Vereinigung der Prüfstellen für angriffshemmende Materialien und Konstruktionen [VPAM]

• The German Technische Richtlinie [TR]

• Gosudarstvennyy Standart [GOST R] of the Russian Federation

• The United Kingdom’s Home Office Scientific Development Branch [HOSDB]

The most recognized and respected body armor standards on the planet, however, are those developed by the US National Institute of Justice [NIJ].

WHO ARE THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE?

Starting out as The National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice in 1968 [3], it was renamed the National Institute of Justice a decade later.

These days, the NIJ falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government and is one of a handful of Bureaus that make up the Office of Justice Programs [OJP]. The OJP is a branch of the Department of Justice [DOJ].

Their mission is "to advance scientific research, development, and evaluation to enhance the administration of justice and public safety."

Among their many responsibilities, the NIJ has been the national authority on civilian body armor standards in the USA for more than half a century. They published NIJ-STD 0115.00 on stab resistance and NIJ-STD 0106.01 on ballistic helmets, but it’s their ballistic resistance of body armor standard that’s become the most widely adopted of its kind across the globe.

The sixth revision of their body armor standard, NIJ-STD 0101.06, served the industry well since it was released in July 2008. In order to keep pace with evolving ballistic threats, though, especially high-powered weapons faced by Law Enforcement Officers, the NIJ introduced standard 0101.07 [1] at the end of November 2023, at the same time adding a companion standard, NIJ-STD 0123.00 [2] [4].

How NIJ STANDARD 0101.07 Is Different

Compared to standard 0101.06, several key improvements have been made in standard 0101.07:

A SUITE OF STANDARDIZED BALLISTIC TEST METHODS & LABORATORY PRACTICES

Even more stringent than standard 0101.06, standard 0101.07 is built upon a collection of ten ASTM International (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials) testing methods and lab practices.

It is based upon direct input from the US Army and the National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST] as well as ballistics experts, body armor manufacturers, materials scientists, and other stakeholders up and down the country.

Bringing these ASTM standards to the US government standards ensures consistency in the development and lab testing of the body armor used by both law enforcement officers and military personnel. It also ensures that the people who will actually use the armor are the ones who have a say in crucial specifications like what ammunition types it will protect against.

IMPROVED TESTING PROTOCOLS FOR WOMEN’S ARMOR

To address the ever-growing demand for improvements to female body armor, the NIJ has implemented special measures in standard 0101.07 to better assess it.

These include:

• additional test shots around the bust area

• reconfiguring test shot placement to find potential vulnerable spots resulting from the construction and shape of female armor

• a new way of building up clay ("clay appliques") that allows for better contact between the clay backing materials and nonplanar panels of soft armor

Wearers of female body armor have been lobbying for years for armor that fits better and offers as much protection as armor made for males. In particular, several sectors of the bust area in female armor have always been vulnerable due to the way the front panel must be shaped.

These changes seek to correct those issues.

UPDATED PERFORATION-BACKFACE DEFORMATION TESTING FOR SOFT ARMOR PANELS

When bullets come into contact with ballistic vests or armor plates, the armor material will dent/protrude inwards, toward the direction of the wearer, as it absorbs the incredible force of the projectile. This is known as perforation-backface deformation, or P-BFD.

In standard 0101.07, P-BFD tests on front soft armor panels now include striking very close to the top center edge with an additional test bullet. This will be done for both planar (flat, for male or gender-neutral) armor and non-planar armor (three-dimensional, or curved, to fit female wearers).

This new shot will provide the minimum performance for handgun projectiles striking that location.

RECONFIGURED PERFORATION-BACKFACE DEFORMATION TESTING ON HARD ARMOR INSERTS

P-BFD tests on hard armor, including that used in conjunction with (ICW) a soft armor backer, now also involve firing at the crown (the highest point of the strike face) on curved plates.

This test shot will assess the armor's performance against a projectile in an area known to be potentially vulnerable to penetration. The US Army has already been testing hard armor with a shot to this area, so this update to standard 0101.07 further harmonizes NIJ testing practices with US Army testing practices.

ALIGNING TEST ROUND VELOCITIES FOR NEW & CONDITIONED ARMOR

In sharp contrast to the previous NIJ standard, standard 0101.07 requires all armor to be test shot at the same velocities.

With standard 0101.06, for example, the conditioned armor test for Level IIIA armor required a velocity of 430 m/s for the first test round. On the other hand, the corresponding test for new IIIA armor required a velocity of 448 m/s for the first test round.

STANDARD 0123.00: Simplifying Body Armor Level Terminology

This is a brand new standard meant to accompany standard 0101.07, and plenty will agree it's one of the most valuable to everyday user as it simplifies the terminology of the NIJ protection levels.

The key purpose of standard 0123.00 will be its use in conjunction with the NIJ-administered Compliance Testing Program [CTP] for bullet-resistant body armor. Ballistics testing laboratories accredited by the National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST] will also reference standard 0123.00, as will manufacturers of body armor involved in the CTP.

In a nutshell, body armor protection levels (and each associated test ammo) have been moved out of the main standard and into their own specification. They've also been redefined according to the most prevalent current ballistic threats as identified by American law enforcement.

Gone, too, are the Roman numerals previously used to indicate threat levels (seen in the image above). Instead, protection levels have been named along the lines of those of the UK’s HOSDB body armor standard. That means they are now more descriptive of ballistic threats with the aim to reduce confusion among body armor users.

HANDGUN THREAT LEVELS

The first thing to note about the new handgun (soft armor) protection levels is that the previous NIJ Level IIA, like NIJ Level I before it, has been made obsolete -- hardly surprising, since Level IIA body armor is decidedly uncommon nowadays.

NIJ Level II has now been renamed NIJ HG1 but keeps the same test ammunition and velocities.

NIJ Level IIIA has been replaced by NIJ HG2. Instead of testing against .357 Sig Sauer rounds, though, the armor is now test-fired against rather faster 9mm ammo.

RIFLE THREAT LEVELS

Pistol threats may have undergone only minor changes, but those for rifle threats are much more significant.

NIJ RF1 and NIJ RF3

Standard 0101.06 featured only two rifle protection levels. One of these, NIJ Level III, is now NIJ RF1. Testing against 7.62 M80 NATO ammo has been retained with a couple of new test rounds added: 7.62×39mm bullets with a Mild Steel Core [MSC] and 5.56mm M193 ammo (at 3250 feet per second).

The former NIJ Level IV becomes NIJ RF3 with no changes to the testing ammo (a single 30 caliber M2 Armor Piercing [AP] 'Black Tip' round) and speed (2880 feet per second).

NIJ RF2

Otherwise, an all-new intermediate hard armor threat level has been created. Covering the same bullet threats as NIJ RF1 plus 5.56mm M855 rounds with a steel core 'penetrator' tip, NIJ RF2 bridges the gap between the previous NIJ Type III and NIJ Type IV threat levels.

In the past, this gap resulted in body armor manufacturers coming up with their own 'Special Threat' designations (for example, Level III+) for hard armor plates that split the difference between NIJ Level III and NIJ Level IV -- grades which were neither official nor tested consistently.

Level IV Inserts and Special Threat Rated Plates

In terms of the new rifle protection levels, the most major adjustment will be for users with existing NIJ Level IV inserts or else non-NIJ-certified special threat rated plates. Under standard 0101.07, the threats associated with each are merged and fall within any one of the new RF protection levels depending on exactly which caliber rounds the armor's supposed to stop.

It's also possible that an NIJ Type IV plate previously tested and certified to withstand 30-06 AP ammo wasn't graded to stop Mild Steel Core rounds. So the insert could now be considered with a lower RF rating.

SO WHAT NOW FOR DIFFERENT BODY ARMOR GROUPS?

BODY ARMOR USERS

Most importantly, keep wearing the body armor you have. The level of protection it offers hasn’t changed, after all.

The vast majority, if not all, of the 400+ models of body armor on the 0101.06 Compliant Products List [CPL] will continue to be NIJ-certified until the end of 2027 at the earliest, even longer if need be, giving individual users and agencies plenty of time to move over to body armor which satisfies standard 0101.07.

BODY ARMOR MANUFACTURERS

Around mid-April of this year, the NIJ Compliance Testing Program will start taking applications to test, evaluate, and certify body armor to standard 0101.07. It likely won’t be until late 2024 or early 2025, though, before an 0101.07 CPL is released.

Manufacturers will first have to register in the updated Testing Information Management System [TIMS] followed by completion of an Applicant Agreement.

BODY ARMOR TEST LABORATORIES

As of January 2024, NIJ’s Compliance Testing Program stopped accepting any new models of body armor for inclusion in the 0101.06 Compliant Products List [CPL].

What’s more, any listed models which are withdrawn or removed now from the .06 CPL won’t be reinstated.

Those models still active on the list will, though, undergo Follow-up Inspection Testing [FIT] for as long as the .06 CPL is publicly available.

NIJ-approved ballistics labs interested in testing body armor to Standard 0101.07 should email bactp@nijctp.org without delay.

Further details on laboratory participation in NIJ’s CTP can be accessed through the Criminal Justice Testing and Evaluation Consortium [CJTEC] website. [5]

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

Although long awaited, the National Institute of Justice’s duo of new ballistic-resistant body armor standards represents a great leap forward for the safety of civilian body armor wearers.

The updated body armor levels in standard 0123.00 are much clearer and simpler to understand. They also provide more realistic coverage of today’s ballistic threats.

At the same time, separating out such from the testing methodologies in standard 0101.07 allows for interoperability with future versions of other body armor performance standards, like those pertaining to stab-resistant gear, ballistic shields, and tactical helmets. This means the NIJ can be more responsive to emerging threats as well as cut down the administration of multiple documents.

If you're a body armor user, remember: The introduction of these new standards doesn't mean you should stop wearing your current ballistic vest or armor plates. They still offer protection against whatever ballistic threats they always have. It just means that the testing on any body armor you buy in the future will have been even more rigorous. It also means terms like 'Level IIIA' or 'Level IV armor' are out and will now be replaced with terms easier to understand.

If you're a manufacturer, you'll want to register with the updated TIMS and start turning in your applications around the middle of April for testing and certifying your products to standard 0101.07.

Over to you – as a user or manufacturer, what do you think of the latest NIJ body armor standards? Feel free to have your say in the comments section underneath!

SOURCES

[1] Ballistic Resistance of Body Armor, NIJ Standard 0101.07

[2] Specification for NIJ Ballistic Protection Levels and Associated Test Threats, NIJ Standard 0123.00

[3] National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice: History, Charter, Organization, and Philosophy

[4] Publication of NIJ Standard 0101.07, Ballistic Resistance of Body Armor, and NIJ Standard 0123.00, Specification for NIJ Ballistic Protection Levels and Associated Test Threats, and Information About the NIJ Compliance Testing Program (Federal Register)

[5] National Institute of Justice Approved Test Laboratories(Criminal Justice Testing and Evaluation Program)

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is based on the most current data and research available, particularly concerning the NIJ Standard 0101.07 and its impact on body armor levels. However, the field of body armor standards is continually evolving, and new advancements or updates may occur. While we strive to keep our content accurate and up to date, we cannot guarantee that all information will remain current or reflect the latest changes or other related developments. Readers are advised to consult additional resources and stay informed about recent updates in the field. This article is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional or expert advice.