Misplaced Pages

#852147

36-532: Designated as a Center for Industrial and Technical Excellence (CITE) for all Petroleum and Water Systems, and Operational Project Stocks, Sierra Army Depot (SIAD) provides a unique readiness platform to the Total Army and Joint Force. SIAD performs a wide variety of long-term logistics and sustainment missions, ranging from equipment receipt and asset visibility to long-term care, storage and sustainment, to repair/reset of all Army fuel and water systems. The depot

72-425: A ductile backing or support layer of metal or fiber reinforced plastic composite materials, and this ceramic-faced assembly is called ceramic armor. Ceramic materials, like glass , have high hardness and compressive strengths but low tensile strengths. Bonding a ceramic tile to a metallic or composite backing material, with high strength and good ductility, delays or mitigates tensile failure upon impact, and forces

108-417: A form of composite armor . Insert plates may also be made of steel or ultra high molecular weight polyethylene . A ceramic plate is usually slipped into the outer layer of a soft armor vest. There may be two plates, one in the front and one in the back, or one universal plate on either front or back. Some vests permit the use of small plates on the sides for additional protection. Ceramic plates issued by

144-474: A next generation plate, to stop even greater velocity threats than the ESAPI plate was issued by the U.S. Army in 2008. The X Threat Small Arms Protective Insert plates are specifically allowed scalar or flexible systems, and asked for better coverage, with less than a pound of additional weight. XSAPI did in fact offer slightly better protection, at the cost of more weight and thicker armor profile. The XSAPI

180-443: A standard ceramic plate. Ceramic materials, materials processing and progress in ceramic penetration mechanics are significant areas of academic and industrial activity. This combined field of ceramics armor research is broad and is perhaps summarized best by The American Ceramics Society. ACerS has run an annual armor conference for a number of years and compiled a proceedings 2004–2007. An area of special activity pertaining to vests

216-885: Is a ceramic ballistic plate used by the United States Armed Forces . It was first used in the Ranger Body Armor and Interceptor Body Armor , both are ballistic vests . It is now also used in the Improved Outer Tactical Vest as well as the Modular Tactical Vest , in addition to commercially available "plate carriers". The Kevlar Interceptor vest itself is designed to stop projectiles up to and including 9×19mm Parabellum submachine gun rounds, in addition to fragmentation. To protect against higher-velocity rifle rounds, SAPI plates are needed. In May 2005,

252-523: Is a false assumption that eliminating the penetration of a projectile into the body by using a personal armor system ensures that the wearer will not experience serious injury or death. Blunt force trauma can cause fatal damage to internal organs. Ceramic armor Ceramic armor is armor used by armored vehicles and in personal armor to resist projectile penetration through its high hardness and compressive strength. In its most basic form, it consists of two primary components: A ceramic layer on

288-475: Is a subordinate of US Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), offers an enterprise-wide competitive solution to logistics challenges, and fills a critical void in material and equipment management nearing the end of its first life. These unique operations provide readiness and operational value to the Department of Defense through the management and controlled redistribution of this equipment. SIAD

324-427: Is backed with a shield made of Spectra , a material up to 40% stronger than Kevlar , to trap any fragments of either plate or projectile and prevent them from injuring the wearer. SAPI plates meant for body armor come in front and back plates which are identical, and smaller side plates. The front and back plates come in five sizes. Their dimensions are the following: Front and back SAPI plates: ESAPI plates are

360-499: Is highly experienced with equipment reset, new assembly/kitting operations, training operations, maintaining operational project stocks, and a redistribution mission for Class VII and Class IX items. It has established an End-of-First Life Center for combat and non-combat vehicles. SIAD supports similar functions for Organizational Clothing and Individual Equipment (OCIE) and Central Management Office (CMO) to receive, identify, classify, receipt/record clothing for multiple agencies such as

396-406: Is important, as they weigh less than metal alloys for a given degree of resistance. The most common materials are alumina , boron carbide , and, to a lesser extent, silicon carbide . Tests as early as 1918 demonstrated the potential of ceramic armor; Major Neville Monroe-Hopkins found that adding a thin layer of enamel to steel greatly improved its ballistic properties. Its first operational use

SECTION 10

#1732780768853

432-614: Is intended to protect against an "X-Threat", which is able to be inferred from another source to be the M993 7.62 NATO armor piercing tungsten carbide projectile. In addition, there is record of the FBI utilizing the plate for their purposes in May 2011. The plates were developed in response to a perceived threat of AP projectiles in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 120,000 inserts were procured; however,

468-547: Is one these systems, although it has failed numerous tests performed by the US Army, and has been rejected. European developments in spherical and hexagonal arrays have resulted in products that have some flex and multi-hit performance. The manufacture of array type systems with flex, consistent ballistic performance at edges of ceramic elements is an active area of research. In addition advanced ceramic processing techniques arrays require adhesive assembly methods. One novel approach

504-423: Is sometimes used. Against high-explosive anti-tank rounds, the ceramic elements break up the geometry of the metal jet generated by the shaped charge, greatly diminishing penetration. Ceramic plates are commonly used as inserts in soft ballistic vests . Most ceramic plates used in body armor provide National Institute of Justice Type III protection , allowing them to stop rifle bullets. Ceramic plates are

540-422: Is sometimes used. In body armor, where ceramic armor designers strive to make ceramic armor plates as light and as comfortable as possible, the backing material is typically a light-weight ultra high molecular weight polyethylene fiber composite, but may also be an aramid fiber composite – and, in low-end ceramic armor plates or in plates for stationary wearers such as helicopter crews, fiberglass

576-448: Is the emerging use of small ceramic components. Large torso sized ceramic plates are complex to manufacture and are subject to cracking in use. Monolithic plates also have limited multi hit capacity as a result of their large impact fracture zone These are the motivations for new types of armor plate. These new designs use two and three dimensional arrays of ceramic elements that can be rigid, flexible or semi-flexible. Dragon Skin body armor

612-441: Is then either shattered, fractured, or blunted. The projectile's remnants continue to penetrate the comminuted ceramic tile at a reduced velocity, which erodes those remnants and reduces their energy, length, and mass. The metal or fiber reinforced plastic composite layer behind the ceramic layer then arrests the projectile's fragments or its eroded remnant, and absorbs residual kinetic energy, typically via plastic deformation . If

648-802: Is used as an efficient way to rotate ISO, TRICON, and MILVAN shipping containers, reducing the total handling time from several hours to 20 minutes, and reducing manpower needs for container logistics support. End-of-First Life Center: SIAD's combat vehicle End-of-First Life Center includes equipment consolidation surveillance and inspection, prepositioned stock, care of supplies in storage, asset and inventory management, regeneration programs for end items, and subcomponents, upgrades and redistribution, configuration management, kitting and system assembly/disassembly. Maintenance: SIAD's maintenance personnel are able to facilitate mechanical repairs, corrosion control, metal fabrication, and repairs. Retrograde, reutilization, and redistribution: The largest organization at SIAD,

684-705: The U.S. Armed Forces began replacing the standard Small Arms Protective Insert plates with the Enhanced Small Arms Protective Insert (ESAPI). An ESAPI provides protection from .30-06 Springfield M2 armor-piercing (AP) with a steel penetrator in accordance with the NIJ Level IV standard, but costs about $ 600 per plate, 50% more than SAPI plates. They are produced by Ceradyne , BAE Systems , and ArmorWorks Enterprises. Newer revisions are also produced by Point Blank Enterprises and Leading Technology Composites. A call for

720-558: The United States military are called Enhanced Small Arms Protective Inserts (ESAPI). The approximate weight for one NIJ Level III ceramic armor plate is 4.4 to 8 pounds (2.0 to 3.6 kg) for the typical size of 10 by 12 inches (25 by 30 cm). There are other types of plates that come in different sizes and offer different levels of protection. For example, the MC-Plate (maximum coverage plate) offers 19% more coverage than

756-580: The AP threats they were meant to stop never materialized, and the plates were put into storage. The standard plate for the Interceptor body armor is made of boron carbide or silicon carbide ceramic . The standard plates are not given an NIJ rating, as they are tested in accordance with specific protocols for the military and not the NIJ's testing. Military testing calls for survivability of three hits from

SECTION 20

#1732780768853

792-696: The Program Execution Office, the CMO, the Defense Logistics Agency, and the US Air Force. The depot can process "excess" OCIE from these agencies and various Central Issue Facilities (CIFs) as well as returned items from Southwest Asia, including posts, camps and stations. These capabilities have enabled the depot to become a consolidation and distribution center for the CMO, supporting brigade-level OCIE reset operations and

828-597: The S-SAPIs. ESBI or Enhanced S-SAPI plates can be replaced with size X-Small ESAPI plates (by unfolding an extension built into the bottom of the ESBI Carrier assembly for the U.S. Army and the S-SAPI Carrier assembly for U.S. Marines for OTVs), if permitted by the unit commander. ESBI plates: The mechanism of effect lies in absorbing and dissipating the projectile's kinetic energy in local shattering of

864-670: The US Army Reserve CIF. The depot also repairs defective ESAPI plates at considerable cost savings to the Army. The depot is the primary storage site of equipment used to build Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors . It houses over 30,000 fittings, jigs, and other tooling related to the production and maintenance of the F-22 for the planes still in service and for any possible future needs. The depot and Anniston Army Depot will be

900-482: The backing material is too thin or too weak to absorb the residual kinetic energy – or if the projectile does not shatter and the eroded projectile remnant retains too much of its mass and kinetic energy – penetration will occur. Both the ceramic layer and its backing layer are therefore of equal importance. In vehicular ceramic armor, the backing material is most commonly structural steel, frequently rolled homogeneous armor , though aluminum

936-416: The ceramic plate and blunting the bullet material on the hard ceramic. The Spectra backing then spreads the energy of the impact to a larger area and stops the fragments, reducing the likelihood of fatal injury to the wearer. The same principle is used for the ceramic tiles used for the armored cockpits of some military airplanes, and the anti- spallation liners used in modern armored personnel carriers . It

972-416: The ceramic to fail in compression. Ceramic armor systems defeat small arms projectiles and kinetic energy penetrators by two main mechanisms: Shattering and erosion. When a hard steel or tungsten carbide projectile hits the ceramic layer of a ceramic armor system, it is momentarily arrested, in a phenomenon known as dwell. Depending on the thickness and hardness of the ceramic layer, the projectile core

1008-503: The effectiveness of matrix-based design, and spurred the development of other matrix-based systems. Most of these combine cylindrical, hexagonal, or spherical ceramic elements with a backing of some non-armor dedicated alloy. Monolithic plate armor, by contrast, relies on single plates of an advanced ceramic slipped into a traditional ballistic vest in place of a steel plate. Unlike metals, ceramics are never used alone, as standalone materials, in armor systems; they are always combined with

1044-604: The first patents of ceramic armor was filed in 1967 by the Goodyear Aerospace Corp. It embedded alumina ceramic spheres in thin aluminum sheets, which were layered so that the spheres of each layer would fill the gaps between spheres of the surrounding layers, in a manner similar to a body-centered cubic packing structure. The entire system was held together with polyurethane foam and either thick aluminum, multi-layered UHMWPE, para-aramid fiber, or 30% PALF + 70% epoxy composite backing. This development demonstrated

1080-477: The outer surface, called the "strike face," backed up by a ductile fiber reinforced plastic composite or metal layer. The role of the ceramic is to (1) fracture the projectile or deform the projectile nose upon impact, (2) erode and slow down the projectile remnant as it penetrates the shattered ceramic layer, and (3) distribute the impact load over a larger area, which can be absorbed by ductile polymer or metallic backings. Ceramics are often used where light weight

1116-534: The reclamation and redistribution facilities receive retrograde materials from southwest Asia, Europe, and posts, camps and stations across the US. Transportation: SIAD is recognized for its transportation capabilities because of its airfield, its joint air operations training, and the improved logistical support to the Warfighter. Small Arms Protective Insert#ESAPI The Small Arms Protective Insert ( SAPI )

Sierra Army Depot - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-475: The round marked on the plate - for standard SAPI, of a caliber up to 7.62 NATO M80 ball and of a muzzle velocity up to 2,750 ft/s (840 m/s). For ESAPI, a .30-06 Springfield M2 armor-piercing (AP) (.30-06 black-tip armor-piercing) cartridge. This performance is only assured when backed by the soft armor of the OTV (or any soft armor which meets military requirements for protection). The ceramic plate

1188-704: The same size but greater in weight. Side SAPI (SSAPI, S-SAPI) torso side plates are only in 6" x 8" size, and weigh around 1 kg (2.3 lb). The replacement for the S-SAPI in U.S. Army, the Enhanced Side Ballistic Inserts (ESBI, E-SBI), originally had only the 7" x 8" size, Small and medium were added later on. The counterpart of the ESBI used by the U.S. Marines is called Enhanced Side Small Arms Protective Inserts (Enhanced S‐SAPI, Side ESAPI). The Enhanced S‐SAPIs have only 6" x 8" size as

1224-578: The storage sites of the US Marine Corps ' inventory of M1 Abrams tanks as well as other armored equipment as part of USMC Commandant Gen. David H. Berger 's planning guidance "Force Design 2030". The last tanks left for the depot from the U.S. Marine Corps' base at 29 Palms in California in July 2020. Sierra Army Depot was established in 1942 as ordnance and general supply storage depot. Over

1260-600: The years, SIAD has adapted to changing conditions by becoming the home to operational project systems. Today, SIAD offers a range of unique logistics, sustainment, and maintenance capabilities. Capabilities include: With more than 1,000 structures, SIAD'S buildings include igloos, warehouses, and maintenance buildings. Containerization and assembly: The depot's kitting and assembly capability includes prototyping configuring, inspection and assessment of returns, replacements, preservation and packaging, equipment testing, containerization, and shipment. Container rotator: The rotator

1296-606: Was not until the Vietnam war in which helicopters frequently came under small arms fire. In 1965, ceramic body armor was given to helicopter crews, and 'hard-faced composite' armor kits were added to pilot seats. By the following year, monolithic ceramic vests and airframe-mounted armor panels had been deployed. In "Huey" helicopters, these improvements were estimated to have decreased fatalities by 53%, and non-fatal injuries by 27%. Ceramic armor designs range from monolithic plates to systems employing three dimensional matrices. One of

#852147