To better serve customers in Germany, EnGarde body armor has completed the German SK1 TR03/2008 certification process for the ULTRA™ flexible ballistic panel. German law enforcement agencies can only purchase officially certified body armor models and the EnGarde ULTRA™ ballistic panel breezed through the rigorous testing protocol.

“We already successfully pre-tested our ULTRA™ panel according to the SK1 standard last year,” says Iwan Luiten marketing manager of EnGarde. “This year we decided to go through the entire certification program.”

The ULTRA™, one of EnGarde’s lightest and most flexible ballistic packages, easily passed the certification showing average back face trauma values of 20mm with a maximum of 30mm, well under the maximum allowed 42.5mm trauma value. Trauma impact values are measured in clay backing behind the panel after being exposed to actual live fire on a test range. The SK1 standard also includes 0 meter distance contact shots which are not part of the the NIJ standard, though FBI body armor test protocols also include contact shots.

The German SK1 standard is quite different from the American NIJ certification. While both the German and American standards use 9mm test rounds, the type of bullets used are very different. The 9mm ammunition used for SK1 testing are Action 4, QD-PEP and DM41 SR expanding rounds.

The German SK1 and FBI protocols also include extremes of heat and cold. Armor samples are shot at 70 °C (158 °F) and -20 °C (-4 °F). Manufacturers of soft ballistic packages that have been certified according to SK1 must warranty their panels for 10 years, while the maximum warranty for NIJ certified panels is 5 years. All EnGarde ULTRA™ panels are warrantied for 10 years.

The SK1 certification of EnGarde’s 100% Dyneema® full-wrap design with integrated trauma reduction layers proves that superior comfort and high performance protection can go hand in hand.