By Michael Moss
The New York Times, 21 January 2006
Under pressure to speed the delivery of armor to troops in Iraq, the United States Army has awarded an emergency contract for ceramic plates to protect the sides of soldiers' torsos from insurgents' attacks, military officials said yesterday.
The move, expected to shave three months off the typical contracting process, comes amid a more sweeping effort by the Army to improve its body armor.
The vests now worn by most military personnel hold ceramic plates that shield just some of the upper body from bullets and shrapnel. But the Army has begun examining other vest designs that would accommodate larger plates, according to an Army official involved in the effort.
In Congress, the Senate and House Armed Services committees said they planned to hold hearings in response to concerns raised by a report in The New York Times on Jan. 7 about the military's body armor program. A Pentagon study obtained by The Times found that extra armor could have saved as many as 80 percent of the marines who had died in Iraq from upper body wounds.
The Marine Corps said it began purchasing side plates last September and expected to finish equipping its force of 26,000 in Iraq in April.
The Army began shipping a small number of ceramic plates to cover the sides and shoulders of soldiers in November 2003, but it did not follow up with a large order for its force of 160,000. Army and Marine officials said they had been concerned that the added armor - a set of side plates weighing about five pounds - would endanger troops by decreasing their mobility.
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Citation: Michael Moss. "Pentagon Acts on Body Armor," The New York Times, 21 January 2006.
Original URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/21/international/middleeast/21armor.html
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