![]() The entire science of combat medicine has been changed, and one of the companies most involved in that change has been Point Blank Solutions, Inc. Estimates are that combat wounds on the battlefields of Iraq, Afghanistan, and other trouble spots have been halved, and deaths reduced even more. The effects of this development are almost too immense to fully describe. Today, five decades after chemist Stephanie Kwolek of DuPont asked herself just what the new fibers she had created might do, ballistic fabric-based armor systems are a major part of the defense industry. Within a decade, complete ensembles, including helmet and vest systems, were radically reducing ballistic and blast injuries and becoming a standard part of a soldier's kit along with their rifles. military and law enforcement agencies were taking delivery of protective vests made of Kevlar™ and other similar materials. In 1965, a new high tensile strength fabric called Kevlar™ was introduced onto the market and was quickly seen as the key to a new generation of ballistic protection garments. Armor makers, however, were about to get a new and exciting tool from the laboratories of the DuPont Corporation. Heavy, hot, and incapable of stopping rounds from firearms, they were effective against fragments from explosive rounds and shells. This would remain the case until the 20th century.īeginning in World War II, a new family of cloth called ballistic fabrics came into usage, initially composed of layers of tightly woven nylon. Then the appearance of firearms in the latter centuries of the second millennium gave penetration weapons a seemingly unbeatable advantage over body armor. By medieval times, knights on horseback were using protective suits made of iron, though these were soon defeated by new weapons like the heavy arrows used by Henry /'s archers at Agincourt. But the battle of armor and penetrating weapons has never ended, and likely never will. Initially composed of animal hides and tanned leather, by Biblical times sophisticated composites of leather and metal were in existence to fend off the penetration of spears, lances, and small arrows. The idea of warriors wearing armor into battle is an old one, dating back to ancient times. ![]() The trick, however, is making something to wear that still makes it possible for a warrior to shoot, move, and operate. So armoring the bodies of those who must walk and operate on those battlefields only makes common sense. These are the basic threats to human existence in the wars we fight today, and they are only growing and improving with the passage of time. Sharpened sticks and metal tipped spears have given way to high-velocity rifle rounds, fast-firing automatic weapons, grenades and mortar shells, and blast/fragmentation explosive devices on the battlefields of the 21st century. ![]() Other kinds of killing mechanisms including blast, fire, chemicals, radiation, and biological weapons have been introduced into the arsenals of nations, but over time, weapons causing penetration trauma have consistently been armies' killing devices of choice. Warfare has always been about killing your enemies, and that usually has involved punching holes in their bodies. Executive Vice President, Point Blank Solutions, Inc.
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