Researchers from the University of Virginia are developing a new generation of body armor that has numerous improvements over the vests currently worn by U.S. soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The team is led by Army Sgt. Jeff O'Dell, a sergeant in the Army National Guard, who is working alongside fellow University of Virginia students Ann Bailey, Adam Rogers and Dan Abebayehu.  O'Dell knows the Enhanced Small Arms Protective Inserts currently used by soldiers can help save lives, but they are bulky, restrict movement and typically cannot stop multiple rounds.

"This project has been a real opportunity to work on something that will actually make a difference," Bailey said.  "I also like the fact that we're at a school with so many resources and where the professors are so willing to help."

The armored vests can weigh up to 30 pounds and can certainly be improved, O'Dell, a double major in mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering, understood when he took a Design Discovery class.  Even though the semester-long class is now over, everyone involved has continued to conduct research into how they can make better armor.  

The team has redesigned armor currently used by military personnel, but with several major improvements over the current generation.  After thinking of reasons why armor used today is unable to stop multiple rounds, they went to the drawing board with numerous ideas they wanted to work on.

O'Dell and his team created armor that is able to stop multiple armor-piercing bullets along with dispersing shock force when a bullet impacts the vest.  Their design pattern is "able to withstand multiple impacts," and has proven to be highly successful when compared to current body armor used by the military and police.

“The Army is interested because we’ve come up with a design that offers flexibility and more capability for stopping multiple armor-piercing rounds,” O’Dell said. “A lot of it has to do with our design, and a lot of it is the material we’re changing.”

The U.S. Army and researchers have already completed the first round of testing at the H.P. White Lab in Maryland, with Army officials to be present at the second trial test of the armor.