NATO AEP-2920 PDF

a. The NA is responsible for the classification of personal armour in its inventory.

b. This AEP describes the procedure for classification (test method and criteria – summarised in ANNEX A) of personal armour for protection against bullets and fragment threat. This procedure includes standard techniques and reproducible test procedures for evaluating the level of protection of combinations of items, components or representative material samples used in personal armour systems and the method to designate the performance by use of a set of identifiers.

c. The NA shall adhere to the classes of small calibre ballistic projectiles (Bullets) defined in ANNEX B and the classes of fragment simulators representing fragmentation defined in ANNEX C of this AEP.

d. The NA shall adhere to the following elements of information:

- Vproof; the Vproof classification of personal armour shall ensure that at a confidence level of 90% the probability of a partial penetration for the specified projectile (s) at the velocity specified (Vproof) is higher than 90%.

- V50; The V50 classification of personal armour shall ensure that the probability of perforation for the specified projectile (s) at the velocity specified (V50) is less than 50%.

- All classification of hard armour shall include the width of the edge zone and the number of impacts per item for each specified bullet [1].

e. For a given item, multiple designations are possible.

f. All classification shall be based on tests performed on targets that are fully representative of (the components of) the item to be used in the field.

g. National Authorities shall classify the personal armour in their inventory on the basis of results from ballistic tests conducted at test facilities in compliance with this AEP.