Protective plates: the new NIJ classes

By now, the NIJ protection classes (National Institute of Justice) are well known. They were known as NIJ Level I to Level IV, offering the highest protection, even against steel core ammunition. The standard has now been revised, and there are now a total of five classes, now called NIJ HG1, HG2, and RF1 to RF3. What does this mean now and why the change?

What is what according to the new standard?

• NIJ Level II is now NIJ HG1
• NIJ Level IIIa is now NIJ HG2
• NIJ Level III is now NIJ RF1
• NIJ Level IV is now NIJ RF3

So there is now a new protection class NIJ RF2, which falls between the old Level III and IV.

The major criticism of the NIJ standard has always been that while Level III can stop up to .308 caliber (7.62x51mm), it is only tested against lead core ammunition. Therefore, the widely used "M855 Green Tip" ammunition in 5.56x45mm with a steel tip (known in Europe as SS109) was not considered in the testing, and the standard could not guarantee that this ammunition would be stopped. Those who wanted guaranteed protection needed NIJ Level IV plates, which are quite expensive.

Therefore, manufacturers then created their own Level III+ or even Level III++, which were not standardized, so there was no real guarantee as each manufacturer determined this class themselves. This unstandardized Level III+ class is now officially included in the NIJ RF2 class.

You can view both standards online. The Armor Plates Standard HERE and the Ammunition Standard HERE.