Threat Levels and NIJ Standards
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the US DOJ agency in charge of testing and evaluating ballistic armor. They also set the standards that NIJ-certified armor must meet or exceed.
The current standard is (NIJ Standard 0101.06), but a new revision (NIJ Standard 0101.07) was proposed in 2018 to simplify naming and add threat levels that weren't covered in NIJ 0101.06. For our purposes, we will mainly refer to NIJ Standard 0101.06.
| NIJ Standard 0101.06 | |||
| Level IIIA | Stops Pistol Rounds up to .44 Magnum | ||
| Level III | Stops Rifle Rounds up to .308(M80 Ball), Excluding M855 Green Tip | ||
| Level IV | Stops Rifle Rounds up to .30-06 M2 Armor Piercing | ||
| Additions In Proposed NIJ Standard 0101.07 | |||
| NIJ RF2 (III+) | Stops rifle rounds up to .308(M80 Ball), Including M855 Green Tip | ||
Special Threat Plates
Some armor plates are referred to as "special threat." These plates are not covered under the current NIJ Standard 0101.06 and therefore aren't NIJ Certified. Our most recommended special threat plate is the Hesco L210. The L210 drops M80 ball protection of level III and III+ but gains M855 protection, and in the case of the Hesco L210, M855A1 protection. This can be useful for those that expect to see more intermediate threats like 5.56 and may not need the .308 protection.
The newer L211 is an updated version of the L210. It picks up more M855A1 protection as well as 7.62x39 API, stopping up to three rounds of each. The L211 is a half-pound lighter per plate, and is 0.09" thicker than the L210.
If you have any further questions, please reach out to us at team@trex-arms.com and we'll be sure to help!
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