U.S. Military Body Armor Saga Enters New Phase: New Trouble for Interceptor?

by David Crane
david at defensereview.com

For the last few months, DefenseReview has been writing about the Pinnacle Armor SOV/Dragon Skin vs. Interceptor Body Armor fight. We consider this situation to be one of the most important developing news stories in the country, as it directly impacts the lives/survivability of our infantry warfighters. As the situtation has progressed, DefenseReview (DefRev) and Soldiers For The Truth (SFTT) have been virtually lone voices in the wilderness, giving the public the inside/real deal scoop on what’s really going on behind the scenes of this controversy, more specifically at U.S. Army Program Executive Office Soldier (a.k.a. PEO Soldier) and U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center/Soldier Systems Center (Natick). We’ve both also reported on just how superior Dragon Skin really is to Interceptor Body Armor. Make no mistake, Dragon Skin is hands-down, no-question-about-it superior to Interceptor Body Armor in every combat-relevant way. However, to date, the only two places you can get that info are DefRev and SFTT (as far as we are aware). For the real-deal info, we’ve been it, not the "mainstream media" outlets.

So, why am I going into all this, here? Well, as it turns out, Newsday staff writer Robert Kessler has just written a story, dated May 11, 2006, about a joint FBI/Department of Defense (DoD) criminal investigation into possible fraud and insider trading at DHB Industries, Inc., parent company of Point Blank Body Armor, Inc., which manufactures the Interceptor OTV (Outer Tactical Vest) component. The article is titled Fraud probe of LI armor company. It looks like the investigators are…
particularly interested in one David Brooks, 51, of Old Westbury, NY.. Mr. Brooks is DHB’s CEO, and the same gentleman who reportedly threw his daughter a $10 million (no, that’s not a misprint) Bat Mitsvah where Aerosmith, 50 Cent (or "Fitty Cent", as we like to call him here at DefRev), Tom Petty, and Stevie Nicks reportedly performed. Perfectly normal. DHB President and retired General Larry Ellis has apparently been incommunicado with Mr. Kessler and the rest of the folks at Newsday about the criminal investigation. Smart. If I were him, I wouldn’t be talking right now, either. I’d keep my mouth shut and let the lawyers handle it. Then again, I’m the son of a litigation specialist (a.ka. trial lawyer), so I was taught that one early on.

It would seem that U.S. Army PEO Soldier’s and Natick’s continuing active blockage of Pinnacle Armor Dragon Skin, including but certainly not limited to the current ban on individual warfighter purchases of Dragon Skin body armor, is a all part of a delaying tactic to enable them to keep issuing contracts–one after the other–to companies like DHB Industries, Inc./Point Blank Body Armor, Inc. and Armor Holdings, Inc. (unconfirmed/unverified). On May 5th, 2006, DHB announced that its subsidiary, Point Blank, had received a $12.2 million order from the "Federal Government". On April 26, 2006, Armor Holdings announced that it had received an $11.6 million order for ceramic armor plates.

DefenseReview finds it interesting that DHB’s Director of Finance/CFO, Lawrence Litowitz, recently resigned from the company after taking over from Dawn Schlegel, who had resigned on April 7, 2006. The Associated Press (AP) reported that Litowitz’s resignation was just the latest in a series of problems at DHB. The following is from the AP:

DefenseReview wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Litowitz and Ms. Schlegel had some interesting stories from their time at the company.

Jerome Krantz, Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors for DHB Industries, Inc., has also resigned from the company. Mr. Krantz has also been referred to as "a director of the company." DHB announced Mr. Krantz’s resignation on May 11, 2006. It’s reported that Mr. Krantz resigned for "personal reasons".

Anyway, for the sake of all of our active U.S. infantry warfighters/DefRev readers runnin’ and gunnin’ over there in the Sandbox (or soon to be doing so), we sincerely hope that the Army lifts its ban on Dragon Skin post haste, whether or not it wins the Army’s upcoming competition. They deserve the absolute best weaponry and equipment money can buy. They deserve the best chance possible of coming home alive and healthy. When it comes to the best body armor for anti-rifle protection (protection against enemy and "friendly" rifle rounds, including high-velocity and AP rifle rounds), Interceptor ain’t it, and SOV/Dragon Skin is. That’s just how it is. That’s the reality. Let’s hope that the "mainstream media" realizes it sooner rather than later and starts reporting on this, themselves. The American public deserves to know, and Defense Review will continue doing it’s part to make sure they do.

Editor’s Note: The author, David Crane, was the first journalist to write about Pinnacle Armor SOV/Dragon Skin in any technical detail, to the best of DefenseReview’s knowledge.