During my Monday afternoon walkabout among the vendor booths at the Philadelphia Convention Center, I ran into Michael Haynes of Point Blank, who had some information to share on the newest body armor technology from the company.
The Alpha Elite Series — announced officially this morning at IACP 2013 — is designed around the Dyneema Force Multiplier Technology by DSM. I can throw all sorts of stats at you — for example, compared to Point Blank’s previous lightest Level IIIA vest, the Alpha Elite Series is 12 percent lighter — but what you really want to know is that it’s lightweight, flexible, affordable, and available today.
“It’s a big leap forward in ballistic technology,” Haynes told me. “What we were able to do is basically offer a level IIIA performance in a size-weight envelope of a really good level II. Not only is the technology a huge leap forward, but it’s also affordable.”
The company tested about 400 materials before deciding on Dyneema Force Multiplier. The material is so light and thin that it looks a little bit like cheesecloth, but the NIJ .06 compliant vests I saw today have “extraordinarily efficient absorption of impact energy” according to the company, and have proven in testing to exceed FBI protocol in both fragmentation protection and multi-hit performance.
Today the ballistics package hit the streets, and is available now in all of Point Blank’s currently existing carriers, both concealable and tactical. At SHOT Show in January, the company will debut dedicated systems for this new technology.
Pricing information, according to a company spokesperson, will soon be forthcoming.
