The military plans to purchase 48,000 new boron carbine bullet-resistant ceramic plates, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest list of regulated military material showed.
Mass production of the plates is scheduled for between 2028 and 2029, according to the document that was released last week.
The plates are capable of protecting against up to 7.62mm armor-piercing ammunition or shrapnel.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The budget is set at NT$840 million (US$28.09 million) for the 48,000 sets of plates in 2028 and 2029, the document showed, after an initial procurement of 30 units for NT$1.395 million.
The list does not indicate the plates’ protective rating, but the specifications for NIV IV-level body armor — resisting a .30 Caliber M2 armor-piercing round — are similar on paper to that of the new armor.
Details on the protective rating, weight and which branches of service are to adopt the armor are not yet public knowledge.
The current NIJ III-rated plates in use by the armed forces are designed to stop standard 7.62mm by 51mm NATO ammunition, the ministry said.
Armor plates that entered mass production this year have three layers of ceramic materials and polyethylene fibers, with 60,000 sets expected to be mass produced and delivered to the different military branches this year.
To protect against 5.8mm steel-core rounds used by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, as well as ordinary 7.62mm bullets, they were developed according to Enhanced Small Arms Protective Insert specifications used by the US military, the ministry said.
In February, the ministry signed a contract worth NT$1.6 billion to purchase 160,000 ceramic plates.
The ministry’s list of controlled materials included both the body armor and the research used to develop them.
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