Editing Plate armour (section)

== Modern body armour ==
{{Main|Bulletproof vest#History}}
{{Further|Steel Bib}}

Body armour made a brief reappearance in the [[American Civil War]] with mixed success. During [[World War I]], both sides experimented with shrapnel armour, and some soldiers used their own dedicated ballistic armour such as the American [[Brewster Body Shield]], although none were widely produced. The [[heavy cavalry]] armour ([[cuirass]]) used by the [[German Empire|German]], [[British Empire|British]], and [[French Third Republic|French]] empires during the [[Napoleonic Wars]], were actively used until the first few months of [[World War I]], when French [[cuirassier]]s went to meet the enemy dressed in armour outside of [[Paris]]. The cuirass represents the final stage of the tradition of plate armour descended from the [[Late Middle Ages]]. Meanwhile, makeshift steel armour for protection against [[Fragmentation (weaponry)|shrapnel]] and early forms of [[ballistic vest]]s began development from the mid-19th century to the present day.

Plate armour was also famously used in [[Australia]] by the Kelly Gang, a group of four [[bushranger]]s led by [[Edward "Ned" Kelly]], who had constructed [[armour of the Kelly gang|four suits of improvised armour]] from plough mouldboards and whose crime spree culminated with a violent shootout with police at the town of [[Glenrowan, Victoria|Glenrowan]] in 1880. The armour was reasonably effective against bullets and made Kelly seem almost invincible to the policemen, who likened him to an evil spirit or [[Bunyip]] with one constable reporting that "[I] fired at him point blank and hit him straight in the body. But there is no use firing at Ned Kelly; he can't be hurt", however it left sections of the groin and limbs exposed; during the infamous "Glenrowan Affair", gang member Joe Byrne was killed by a bullet to the groin, Kelly was captured after a fifteen-minute last stand against police (having sustained a total of 28 bullet wounds over his body), and the remaining two members are thought to have committed suicide shortly after. Although the recovered suits were almost immediately mismatched, they have since been reorganized and restored and today remain as a powerful symbol of the Australian outback.

In 1916, General Adrian of the French army provided an abdominal shield which was light in weight (approx. one kilogram) and easy to wear.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6OeO9_g_6n4C&pg=PA109|title=Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare|first=Bashford|last=Dean|date=28 February 2018|publisher=Yale University Press|via=Google Books}}</ref> A number of British officers recognised that many casualties could be avoided if effective armour were available.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/woundblstcs/chapter11.htm|title=Office of Medical History|website=history.amedd.army.mil|access-date=2012-07-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030704224744/http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/woundblstcs/chapter11.htm|archive-date=2003-07-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The first usage of the term "[[flak jacket]]" refers to the armour originally developed by the [[Wilkinson Sword]] company during [[World War II]] to help protect [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) air personnel from flying debris and [[Fragmentation (weaponry)|shrapnel]]. The [[Red Army]] also made use of ballistic steel body armour, typically chestplates, for combat engineers and assault infantry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/body-armor2.htm|title=Body Armor History|first=John|last=Pike|website=www.globalsecurity.org}}</ref>

After World War II, steel plates were soon replaced by vests made from synthetic fibre, in the 1950s, made of either [[boron carbide]], [[silicon carbide]], or [[aluminium oxide]]. They were issued to the crew of low-flying aircraft, such as the [[Bell UH-1 Iroquois|UH-1]] and [[Fairchild C-123 Provider|UC-123]], during the [[Vietnam War]].<ref name="Barron1969">{{cite journal |publisher=[[United States Army Soldier Systems Center|U.S. Army Natick Laboratories]] |first=Edward R. |last=Barron |author2=Park, Alice F |author3=Alesi, Anthony L |title=Body Armor for Aircrewman |access-date=2008-11-12 |date=January 1969 |url=http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/AD688122 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523192911/http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/AD688122 |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 23, 2012 |format=PDF }}</ref><ref name="Whoare2006">{{cite web |url=http://www.vietnamgear.com/Article.aspx?Art=91 |title=Who are you calling Chicken? |date=2006-07-03 |publisher=VietnamGear.com |access-date=2008-11-12}}</ref> The synthetic fibre [[Kevlar]] was introduced in 1971, and most ballistic vests since the 1970s are based on kevlar, optionally with the addition of [[trauma plate]]s to reduce the risk of blunt trauma injury. Such plates may be made of ceramic, metal (steel or titanium) or synthetic materials.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Sappenpanzer model 1917-Morges Inv 1010791-P5120277-gradient.jpg|German body armour (''Sappenpanzer''; 1918)
File:American cuirass of WWI.jpg|American cuirass of WWI after fire testing
</gallery>