US soldiers have best body armor - Pentagon
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-12 11:44

U.S. troops in Iraq are using body armor that strikes a balance of protecting them while allowing movement to do their jobs and withstand hot temperatures, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The Senate Armed Services Committee summoned defense officials to a closed briefing to explain a Pentagon report disclosed last week that said more complete body armor could have prevented or limited about 80 percent of the fatal torso wounds suffered by Marines killed in Iraq.

Army officials said improvements are being made to armor systems to provide more side protection but that mobility also is a concern.

"We must not burden our soldiers with weight to the point that they become ineffective and susceptible to other dangers," Army Major Gen. Stephen Speakes told reporters after the briefing.

Congressional Democrats have pounced on the report, which was compiled by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at the request of the Marine Corps, as evidence of the Bush administration's flawed conduct of the Iraq war.

The report, which was not intended for public release, examined the cases of Marines fatally wounded from the start of the war in March 2003 through June 2005, and found weaknesses in the torso protective gear.

After The New York Times obtained the study and reported on it, the Pentagon released three of the six pages of findings, but said the remainder would reveal vulnerabilities in protective gear to the enemy.

The study said bullets or shrapnel hit the Marines' shoulders, the sides of their torsos or other areas not fully covered by ceramic plates contained in the body armor in at least 74 of 93 fatal wounds it examined.

"Either a larger plate or superior protection around the plate would have had the potential to alter the fatal outcome," the study said.

ALMOST 90 POUNDS OF ARMOR

Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, Armed Services Committee chairman, said he was satisfied that the Pentagon has "periodically upgraded the body armor consistent with facts and findings" from the medical community, on-scene commanders and service members themselves.

Adding more body armor to existing systems that can weigh nearly 90 pounds could "reduce the mobility of the individual to a point where he or she can't even protect themselves in trying to dodge certain situations in combat," Warner said.

The Pentagon is in the process of getting new side and shoulder protections but Democrats on the Senate panel questioned why it did not move faster after the report came out in June.

"Our troops not only deserve the best equipment available but they have a right to receive this equipment in a timely manner," said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

"Too many soldiers in Iraq have put their lives on the line without the armor and armored Humvees they needed," said Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Major Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, deputy for the Army's acquisition and systems management, said 230,000 sets of new side armor were to be delivered to Iraq throughout this year. He said a series of improvements to existing armor fielded in January last year already was providing some side protection.

Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut said he would push legislation requiring the Pentagon to provide "the most complete personal body armor protection to military personnel serving in combat operations." The bill would offer a protective equipment allowance of up to $1,100 to each service member to buy body armor from military suppliers.

There have been 2,210 U.S. military deaths in the Iraq war, which began in March 2003, with more than 16,000 wounded in combat, according to Pentagon figures.