New Delhi: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has started procuring 40,000 lightweight bulletproof jackets for its personnel deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, LWE zones and insurgency-prone Northeast. The Central Paramilitary Force has started procuring life-protecting bulletproof jackets, including BIS-5 and BIS-6 from SMPP private limited, a domestic company dealing with defence equipment.
Procuring such a huge number of bulletproof jacket from SMPP also emphasise the Central government's make-in-India initiative as the Delhi-based company is a renowned manufacturer of critical defence equipment like personal protection, platform protection and ammunition with a global footprint. Sources privy to the development told ETV Bharat that all these bulletproof vests have been made with Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) certification.
Earlier, bulletproof jackets in India were made under the standard of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ-America) which had a bullet-resistant capacity of one to four levels. But, under the BIS standard, the bullet-resistant capacity has been increased from level one to six. The newly procured bulletproof vest can resist even steel bullets also, an official said.
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Although approval to procure such a huge number of bulletproof jackets have been granted by the Home Ministry in 2020, necessary official procedures and Covid 19 pandemic has delayed the procurement process. "In many instances, we have seen that the bulletproof vests used by our soldiers were not able to resist bullets used by the terrorists' outfits," said the official.
At present, almost 90 per cent of the materials required to make bulletproof jackets are made in India and earlier only 10 per cent of the materials were made in India, the official said. "With the procurement of this new bulletproof vest, it is expected that the number of injuries and casualties of security personnel stationed in terror-infested areas will also be decreased," the official said.
Use of boron carbide ceramics in body armour:
The upper portion of the vest that covers the neck area is made of boron carbide ceramics, one of the hardest and most lightweight materials. The remaining portion of the jacket is made of ultra-high polyethylene polymer plate which can resist even a steel bullet. Earlier, plates made of iron were used in bulletproof jackets which automatically increased the weight of the vest up to 12-15 kg. Now with the use of an ultra-high polyethylene polymer plate, the weight of the bulletproof jacket has come down to 7-9 kg.
These newly procured vests also provide side protection, which was missing in the previous jackets. Hailing the development, former Director General of CRPF Dilip Trivedi told ETV Bharat that the procurement of such bulletproof vests made of the latest technology and gadgets would definitely boost the morale of Paramilitary Forces.
"Definitely this is a very positive sign. With the improvement in technology, bulletproof jackets are nowadays very lightweight. The use of Kevlar materials (a kind of substance) can absolve the bullet," said Trivedi. The present bulletproof jacket can definitely protect the jawans from life-threatening injuries by protecting the vital parts.
