U.S. Army orders next-gen body armor

ST. PAUL, Minn., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- 3M subsidiary Ceradyne Inc. is providing the U.S. Army with ballistic armor inserts for tactical vests.

The order for next-generation lightweight enhanced small arms protective inserts, or ESAPI, body armor is a $34 million contract modification, issued under the Army's Soldier Protection Systems Vital Torso Protection program.

"We've made it our mission to leverage innovation in advanced materials science to reduce the weight burden carried by soldiers," said 3M's Cheryl Ingstad, business manager of Advanced Ceramics Platform - Defense. "3M's capability to decrease the weight of products, while maintaining or even enhancing performance characteristics, is well-recognized."

3M said delivery of 28,000 low-rate initial production of the next-gen ESAPI inserts will be completed next year. Additional detailsof the contract modification were not disclosed.