Dragon Skin body armor is a type of ballistic vest made by Pinnacle Armor. It is distinguished by its silver dollar-sized circular discs that overlap like scale armour, creating a flexible vest that allows a greater range of motion and can allegedly absorb more hits than standard military body armor. The discs are composed of a silicon carbide ceramic matrices and laminates, much like the larger ceramic plates in other types of bulletproof vests.
The armor is available in two basic protection levels: SOV-2000, which was certified as Level III protection (this certification was withdrawn, and Pinnacle is suing to force the NIJ to reinstate on the basis of its own private retesting) and SOV-3000, which is advertised as Level IV but has not yet been certified as such. Pinnacle Armor’s website also identifies a “Level V” variant, which does not correspond to any body armor standard and is not available to the general public.
Dragon Skin has been worn by some civilian contractors in Iraq, some elite special forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, some SWAT teams, nine generals in Afghanistan, bodyguards tasked with protecting generals, and U.S. Secret Service personnel.
See it in action, watch the video below.
