AlphaCore™ ballistic plates, offering the highest levels of protection when you need it most.

The soft armor in bullet proof vests is designed to stop a range of threats, from regular hand guns up to high powered Magnums. However they are not designed to stop rounds traveling at a higher velocity than that, and so soft armor will not defeat rounds fired from a rifle.

In order to stop a rifle round it is necessary to use hard armor plates. These are designed to be worn in front of an NIJ Level IIIa bullet proof vest, and will absorb the main force of the rifle round by shattering it, allowing the soft armor behind the plate to absorb the rest of the impact. Hard armor plates are available in two levels, NIJ Level III and NIJ Level IV. When used with an NIJ Level IIIa bullet proof vest a Level III hard armor plate will defeat a regular rifle round, and a Level IV plate will stop an armor piercing round.

Our AlphaCore™ hard armor is available in a variety of materials, and the material used will affect the weight of the plate. A 10” x 12” ceramic hard armor plate will weigh 3kg, and a polyethylene / ceramic composite hard armor plate will weigh 1.8kg. We also have our AlphaCore™ ultra lightweight polyethylene plate, which weighs just 1.2kg and is ideal for users that require a high level of protection at the lowest weight possible.