Nasir Azam
Srinagar: After floating tenders to procure modern equipment to identify and diffuse the explosives including Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs), Jammu and Kashmir police has now decided to lace its men with the hi-tech Bullet Resistant Vests (BRVs) to ensure its men remain safe during anti-militancy operations.
According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), police will soon be lacing its men, especially those who are part of its Special Operation Group (SoG), with the BRVs. “All preparations have been done and tenders too have been floated in this regard,” a senior police official said, wishing not to be named.
He said that a ballistic vest or bullet-resistant vest, often called a bulletproof vest, is an item of personal armor that helps absorb the impact and reduce or stop penetration to the body from firearm-fired projectiles and shrapnel from explosions. “Soft vests are made of many layers of woven or laminated fibers and can protect the wearer from small-caliber handgun and shotgun projectiles, and small fragments from explosives such as hand grenades,” the officer said.
He said those vests often have a ballistic plate inserted into it. “Metal or ceramic plates can be used with a soft vest, providing additional protection against rifle rounds, and metallic components or tightly woven fiber layers can give soft armor resistance to stab and slash attacks from knives and similar close-quarter weapons,” the officer told KNO.
He said the BRVs use layers of very strong fibers to “catch” and deform a bullet, mushrooming it into a dish shape, and spreading its force over a larger portion of the vest fiber. “The vest absorbs the energy from the deforming bullet, bringing it to a stop before it can completely penetrate the textile matrix. Some layers may be penetrated but as the bullet deforms, the energy is absorbed by a larger and larger fiber area,” the officer said.
Another official said that some bullets can penetrate the vest, but still deal low damage to its wearer because of speed loss or their small mass and form.