Ballistic Testing for Interceptor Body Armor Inserts Needs Improvement

We are performing a series of Interceptor Body Armor audits in response to a congressional request. This audit evaluated product quality assurance for seven Army contracts, valued at $2.5 billion, for ballistic inserts awarded between 2004 and 2006. Specifically, we determined whether the results for First Article Tests (FATs) and Lot Acceptance Tests (LATs) met contract requirements and whether quality assurance personnel performed the product quality surveillance in accordance with contract requirements. What We Found The Army Program Manager Soldier Equipment (PM SEQ) could provide only limited assurance that approved ballistic materials for approximately 5 million inserts on seven contracts met the contract requirements. This occurred because PM SEQ did not consistently enforce the requirements for testing the body armor ballistic inserts. Specifically on two contracts, PM SEQ did not conduct all the required tests because they had no protection performance concerns on these inserts. On all seven contracts, PM SEQ did not always use the correct size ballistic insert for FATs, use a consistent methodology for measuring the proper velocity, or enforce the humidity and temperature requirements. In addition, PM SEQ did not require weathered and altitude tests on six of the seven contracts.