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Written question asked by Lord Spellar (Labour) on Friday, 15 July 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 19 July 2022. It was answered by Jeremy Quin (Conservative) on Monday, 25 July 2022 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Body Armour

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) effectiveness, (b) health and safety and (c) comfort of the current standard of military body armour.

Answer

VIRTUS is the current military body armour used by personnel across Defence.

Military body armour is designed to improve the wearer’s survivability by protecting them from a variety of blast and fragmentation threats; but it also must be balanced against the wider system requirements – specifically mobility and lethality. Combat effectiveness is measured by the overall interaction between protection, mobility, and firepower.

The current military body armour (VIRTUS) has been developed with DSTL and assessed against industry standards. It was developed to address previously identified capability gaps. It was subjected to field and lab trials testing which concluded that the VIRTUS system increased agility and overall performance..

Military body armour (VIRTUS) complies with current UK Health and Safety at Work legal requirements and meets all other legal and Ministry of Defence obligations.

The current in service body armour (VIRTUS) was consistently rated more favourably in respect of comfort than the other systems in the majority of questions during initial trials, and subjective evaluations relating to usability and functionality were predominately positive. Defence is constantly seeking to refine the capability, and has recently developed a wider variety of body armour accessories for those with smaller statures.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
37438
Session
2022-23
Subjects
Armed forces Body armour
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk