The Australian Defense Forces announced today they now have the capability to manufacture ballistic plates for their military body armor.
New technology to manufacture the ballistic plates has been developed through a partnership between:
- · The Defence Materials Technology Centre;
- · Australian Defence Apparel (ADA);
- · The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
(CSIRO); and- · The Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing (VCAMM).
Australian Defence Apparel will soon be able to manufacture the ballistic plates at their factory in Bendigo.Mr Clare said that most ballistic plates used by the ADF are currently imported from the United States.
We had a robust discussion about this manufacturing situation at Kit Up! last month, when we posted a story about Chinese body armor development. There's been a lot of experimentation internationally for a mixed approach to plate building -- including unidirectionals, titanium and even steel -- since few countries have the ability to make the complex B4C plating.
Now it seems that Australia has joined the limited list of nations with a domestic manufacturing capability for this life-saving material.
