Body armor effectiveness against Russian issue ammunition

[YVK]

What position is a military reservist in, outside the US, where he's looking to get into a fight with the Russians but doesn't have access to resources on what plates should be used?

Ukrainian communities in the US have collected funds to buy armor for Ukrainians involved in the conflict with Russia. I don't know if only money was supposed to be sent over, or there were ways to piggybag a purchased armor onto the official military aid that US has provided to Ukraine. I don't know what happened at the end, but I surely know that my friends, who are/were local Ukrainian community activists, have asked me what to/how to about the armor explicitly for the above reason.

[VT1032]

The Wikipedia article on 5.45 ammo has some decent publicly available info on the current Russian rifle rounds and their performance if that's what you're looking for. How that relates to commercially available armor, I couldn't tell you. Does your friend not get issued armor as a reservist?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.45%C3%9739mm

I seem to recall seeing a video on youtube of some of the DPR guys in eastern Ukraine shooting up captured Ukrainian body armor. It looked like the Ukrainians were issuing some sort of steel plate and whatever it was, the 5.45 they had was zipping through it like was nothing.

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[HCM]

And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't western manufactured armor ITAR controlled?
Have fun getting jacked up on that.

ITAR only covers US items but other countries like Germany have similar restrictions.

[DocGKR]

The big question is what Russian projectile; for example, 7N1 is a very different threat than 7N37....

[That Guy]

The big question is what Russian projectile; for example, 7N1 is a very different threat than 7N37....

Indeed. And that is of course difficult to know beforehand.

It is my understanding that ammunition with a hardened steel penetrator is in common use. I don't know how much of the newer tungsten carbide penetrator ammo is in actual use, but some of it has been manufactured now for a while.

[DocGKR]

Equivalent Western projectiles perform at least as well as similar Russian ones, so if armor works against standard Western threats, it will work against equivalent Russian ones.

[spyderco monkey]

To answer the question, for the latest Russian 5.45 7N22, which uses a full length hardened steel penetrator, you want a Level III+ "special threat" plate rated for M855A1, or really just the more common Level IV.

http://gunrf.ru/rg_patron_5_45x39_eng.html

The plate needs to be made of ceramic, backed by a UHMWPE backer.

Chinese made plates - which are both cheap and available to anyone with a credit card - are more then up to the task.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlvegB2T0AU