By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com All photos contained in this article were taken by DefenseReview.com, and are copyrighted. DefenseReview.com owns the copyright on these photos. The photos were shot with a Canon PowerShot S90 10-megapixel digital camera (still camera with video capability). February 28, 2010 Updated on 4/01/10 There were a few new pistols that DefenseReview viewed …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com February 5, 2009 On January 29, 2009, the Washington Times reported that the U.S. Army is recalling "more than 16,000 sets of ceramic body armor plates that the Pentagon’s inspector general believes were not properly tested and could jeopardize the lives of U.S. service personnel." This came just one day after the …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com January 13, 2009 A number of eco-friendly, green-technology websites have been reporting on aerospace juggernaught Lockheed Martin teaming up with energy storage tech startup EEStor to develop a tactical body armor system with integrated "electrical energy storage unit" (EESU) a.k.a. "electronic storage unit" (ESU) or multiple EESUs/ESUs in order to be able …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com November 19, 2008 Human Events is reporting on the use of Chinese armor-piercing a.k.a. armor-penetrating (AP) bullets by enemy snipers in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the article, this new Chinese AP rifle ammo is copycatting U.S.-made AP ammo design, and is "sending alarm bells through the Pentagon as it hurries to …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com November 13, 2008 DefenseReview has been publishing information about Springfield Armory XD (eXtreme Duty) series pistols for quite awhile now, since a number of our professional contacts in the tactical community swear by them, particularly the .45 ACP models. To date, the most interesting XD pistol is the Springfield XD(M) a.k.a. Springfield …

The following is a Ceradyne, Inc. press release: COSTA MESA, Calif., Oct 09, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Ceradyne, Inc. (CRDN: 23.50, +1.74, +8.0%) announced that it has received a delivery order for $73 million for XSAPI body armor plates. This X-SAPI plate order is the first production delivery order against the $2.37 billion ID/IQ (Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity) contract announced on …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com July 31, 2008 MIT materials science and engineering researchers are studying the flexible biological scalar armor system a.k.a. flexible dermal armor system utilized by Polypterus senegalus a.k.a. Senegal bichir a.k.a. Gray bichir a.k.a. "dinosaur eel", a "living fossil" fish, for its potential applicability for developing more advanced military body armor, vehicle armor …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com July 26, 2008 For the last few years, DefenseReview has received some pretty glowing feedback on the Springfield Armory XD45 (eXtreme Duty 45) .45 ACP pistol. One of the primary aspects of the XD45 pistol that the professionals we’ve interviewed appreciate is its fully-supported chamber which allows them to fire high-pressure +P …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com June 23, 2008 Imagine having a 100% Kevlar high-strength woven aramid ballistic fiber solution with 15% less backface deformation signature (BDS), yielding reduced impact trauma a.k.a. blunt force trauma, along with a 10% reduction in overall (OA) weight. This is the promise of DuPont Kevlar® XP™ woven ballistic aramid fiber for military …

By Roger Charles, DefenseWatch June 12, 2008 Thanks to an Air Force debarment action against Pinnacle Armor, manufacturer of Dragon Skin body armor, documents have been obtained, and witnesses deposed that provide hard evidence that the Army Acquisition capos fraudulently altered test reports to reflect the results desired by this band of criminal knaves. And, they did so knowing full …