Does dragons skin work or is it like Zylon? How long does it work since its mini ceramic plates? Is it good for longer than 5 years like normal body armor?
You can google the particulars but I will give you the short story:
Dragon Skin is great. It works. It is very comfortable. I know a few SOF guys and PMC’s who bought it.
You may remember there was a huge body armor fiasco going on in the Army a few years ago. The Army was busting it’s ass to get everybody in the correct body armor. Pinnacle Body armor was moving Heaven and Earth to get Dragon Skin adopted. Based on Pinnacle propaganda, many soldiers, citizens and Congress were beating up on the Army to at least look at Dragon Skin.
Dragon Skin was tested head to head against Interceptor. The test were conducted by H.P. White Labs. Dragon Skin failed and the results were classified. Of course, when anything is done in secret everybody is suspicious. Soldiers, citizens, Congress and Pinnacle all cried foul. The pressure got so bad that the Army forced to release the results.
Basically, Dragon Skin works great in a static lab environment. When subjected to the Army environmental testing it failed badly. The combination of diesel fuel and high heat (both realistic concerns in Iraq) the glue that holds the Dragon Skin scales in place failed, the scales slipped out of place and there were gaps in the armor.
Having handled the scale armor, it’s far bulkier and heavier than normal kevlar + plates. Pinnacle also lied about their NIJ certifcation, and I believe use of their products has been banned by all services now.
From what I remember the tests showed that Dragon Skin was alot of hype. One of my room mates on a contract I was in in Iraq bought it and I wasn’t impressed. Neither was he. It was very heavy, cumbersome and expensive. I’ll stick with my Diamond Back Tactical Predator vest and plates.
IMO, the USMC SPC is the best thing going that balances protection with comfort. The current Eagle MBAV and Paraclete SOHPC are also good bets.
I vote paraclete RAV 2007, has been very dependable and comfortable rig.
Dragon Skin would have to move up several orders of magnitude to attain “sucks” status.
I wore it for a while, thankfully on somebody else’s dime, and it practically disintegrated before my very eyes.