The invention relates to a ballistic vest containing a stock of flexible fabrics and a stack of flexible unidirectional layers, in which the fabrics contain strong fibres of a first kind, the unidirectional layers contain strong fibres of a second kind, and in which the fibres in a unidirectional layer run essentially parallel and are disposed at an angle to fibres in an adjacent layer which is greater than 0 degrees, where in that the flexible fabric is a loose fabric and is located on the strike side of the vest. The percentages by weight of the loose fabrics and the stack of UD layers preferably is between 15:85 and 30:70%. In that case, a vest of areal density less than 6 kg/m 2 can have such ballistic resistance as to stop an Action 3 bullet with a velocity of up to 437 m/s with a trauma to NIJ Standard of less than 44 mm.
1. Ballistic vest containing a stack of flexible fabrics and a stack of flexible unidirectional layers, in which the fabrics contain strong fibres of a first kind, the unidirectional layers contain strong fibres of a second kind, and in which the fibres in a unidirectional layer run essentially parallel and are disposed at an anale to fibres in an adjacent layer which is greater than 0 degrees and wherein the flexible fabric is a loose fabric and is located on a strike side of the vest, in which the loose fabric contains at least 3 floats.
2. Vest according to claim 1 , in which the loose fabric is a twill weave.
3. Vest according to claim 1 , in which the percentages by weight of the stack of loose fabrics and the stack of UD layers is between 15:85 and 30:70%.
4. Ballistic vest containing a stack of flexible fabrics and a stack of flexible unidirectional layers, in which the fabrics contain strong fibres of a first kind, the unidirectional layers contain strong fibres of a second kind, and in which the fibres in a unidirectional layer run essentially parallel and are disposed at an angle to fibres in an adjacent layer which is greater than 0 degrees and wherein the flexible fabric is a loose fabric and is located on a strike side of the vest, in which the first and second stacks together have an areal density of less than 6 kg/m 2 and in which the vest has such ballistic resistance as to stop an Action 3 bullet with a velocity of up to 437 m/s with a trauma to NIJ Standard of less than 44 mm.
5. Ballistic vest containing a stack of flexible fabrics and a stack of flexible unidirectional layers, in which the fabrics contain strong fibres of a first kind, the unidirectional layers contain strong fibres of a second kind, and in which the fibres in a unidirectional layer run essentially parallel and are disposed at an angle to fibres in an adjacent layer which is greater than 0 degrees and wherein the flexible fabric is a loose fabric and is located on a strike side of the vest, in which the first and second stack together have an areal density of less than 4.5 kg/m 2 and in which the vest has such ballistic resistance as to stop an Action 3 bullet with a velocity of up to 385 m/s with a trauma to NIJ Standard of less than 44 mm.
6. Vest according to claim 1 , in which the first and second stack together have an areal density of less than 5.2 kg/m 2 and in which the vest has such ballistic resistance as to comply with NIJ3a Standard 0101.03.
7. Vest according to claim 1 , in which the unidirectional layer contains mainly aramid or polybenzazole (PBO) fibres.
8. Vest according to claim 7 , in which the first and second stack together have an areal density of less than 4 kg/m 2 and in which the vest has such ballistic resistance as to stop an Action 3 bullet with a velocity of up to 385 m/s with a trauma to NIJ Standard of less than 44 mm.
9. Vest according to claim 1 , in which the fabric is a 5.1 twill weave fabric.
10. Vest according to claim 1 , wherein the loose fabric contains ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fibers.
11. Vest according to claim 2 , wherein the loose fabric contains ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fibers.
12. Vest according to claim 3 , wherein the loose fabric contains ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fibers.
13. Vest according to claim 9 , wherein the loose fabric contains ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fibers.
14. Vest according to claim 1 , wherein the unidirectional layers contain ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fibers.
15. Vest according to claim 4 , wherein the loose fabric contains at least 3 floats.
16. Vest according to claim 5 , wherein the loose fabric contains at least 3 floats.
17. Vest according to claim 4 , wherein the loose fabric is a twill fabric.
18. Vest according to claim 5 , wherein the loose fabric is a twill fabric.
19. Vest according to claim 4 , wherein the loose fabric contains ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fibers.
20. Vest according to claim 5 , wherein the loose fabric contains ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fibers.
21. Vest according to claim 4 , wherein the unidirectional layers contain ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fibers.
22. Vest according to claim 5 , wherein the unidirectional layers contain ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fibers.