Why can China’s bulletproof vests win 70% of the global market

In 2017, a video of “Chinese bulletproof plug-in board scares Americans” was wildly spread on the Internet.
An American spent $100 to buy China’s level IV bulletproof insert plate, and successively experienced the close range direct fire test of 7.62mm power bullet and moxinagan rifle bullet.
The result surprised the American: the bulletproof plate withstood all the attacks of the gun!
How did Chinese bulletproof vests counter attack?
American soldiers, why do they even buy it out of their own pocket?

High quality and low price

In retrospect, the protection of individual soldiers runs through the whole war history of mankind.
In the age of cold weapons, there were animal skins and metal armor;

In modern war, the killing power of weapons has increased sharply, and governments of various countries have invested in the research of bulletproof vests.

After nearly one hundred years of development, the commercial bulletproof clothing has formed two main streams of hard materials and soft materials.
The hard material uses the high hardness of the insert plate itself to resist the physical impact of bullets and protect the human body.
Soft materials are drawn into filaments with high-strength and good tensile chemical fibers or polymers, and then woven into cloth, which is superimposed layer by layer to absorb bullet kinetic energy.
The individual protective equipment of the US Army is the world leader, but their counterfeiting is often prohibitive. The quality of bulletproof products made in China is not weaker than those made in the United States, but the price is often only half of theirs.
The bulletproof products produced by SBA mainly take silicon carbide and boron carbide ceramic materials as the core, and the new generation of bulletproof insert plate also has super resistance.
The 15 mm thick insert plate made of silicon carbide, boron carbide ceramics and fiber composite materials was fired with 5.8 mm (Chinese standard) steel core bullet for many times.

Not only the depression depth at the shot place was not more than 25 mm, but also only microcracks appeared in the continuous shooting in the same area, which did not affect the normal use of other areas.
In 2003, relevant British departments purchased more than 600 bulletproof vests due to war needs. A British soldier recalled after the war that he was surrounded by the Taliban and miraculously survived after the other party fired 12 shots in a row.
The bulletproof vest worn by the British soldier at that time was made in China.
Even if China’s bulletproof vests are strong, the key is very cheap.
The domestic ceramic bulletproof clothing at the price of US $200 can meet the comprehensive needs of customers to defend against “large caliber, strong power and close range direct fire”, while the bulletproof clothing produced by Western military enterprises can only be done at the cheapest price of US $500 if they meet the above needs.
If it’s you, which one do you buy?
With good quality and low price, it naturally sells well all over the world.
China’s bulletproof clothing sales share accounts for 70% of the world. Military forces of various countries have said they want to buy Chinese bulletproof vests.
It is said that many American soldiers buy Chinese bulletproof vests out of their own pocket without using the bulletproof vests distributed by the United States.

The road of counter attack——Bulletproof Product——Made In China

Like many other industries, China’s bulletproof clothing manufacturing road is neither the earliest nor the most smooth.
China’s independent research and development of bulletproof vests started very late.
It was not until the late 1950s that the relevant logistics R & D departments of the people’s Liberation Army began to project the R & D of domestic bulletproof clothing, and its main purpose was only to provide basic protection for military security and logistics personnel.
The Vietnam War launched by the United States alerted our military.
Under the US air raid, the high-speed steel balls and ammunition fragments of air explosive submunitions pose a great threat to China’s anti-aircraft artillery, transportation and engineering troops sent to assist North Vietnam.

It is urgent to strengthen individual protection.
From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, the Logistics Department of the PLA successfully developed and put into production two kinds of bulletproof vests, which was the first large-scale production of bulletproof vests of the PLA.
In the United States, in the 1970s, DuPont has developed a synthetic fiber called “Kevlar”.
The emergence of “Kevlar” is a historic change in bulletproof clothing materials. The shrapnel energy absorbed by this material is 1.6 times that of nylon and 2 times that of steel. Most importantly, Kevlar is particularly lightweight.
After the reform and opening up, the independent research and development of China’s national defense vest has slowed down.
In the 1980s and 1990s, a small amount of domestic bulletproof vests were mainly provided to peacekeeping forces, public security units, anti-terrorism special warfare and other specific units, and were not put into mass production.
After entering the 21st century, the military and the Ministry of public security began to produce bulletproof vests on a real scale.
The Quartermaster Equipment Research Institute of the General Logistics Department has developed 2004 series bulletproof vests. Subsequently, the 2006 special forces bulletproof vest was also developed.
06 bulletproof vest adds webbing on the front and reduces webbing on the back, which makes the design more reasonable.

Patents provide the greatest help for the development of China’s billing products!

After 2000, the number of domestic patent applications for bulletproof vests soared.
From the perspective of patent types, they are mainly concentrated in the fields of armor (f41h), layered products (b32b), fiber (d01f), protective clothing (a41d), composition of high molecular compounds (c08l), fabric treatment (d03d and d06m), inorganic and high molecular organic materials as ingredients (c08k), accounting for nearly 80% of the total application volume, respectively reflecting the characteristics of our national defense bulletproof clothing in bulletproof clothing, bulletproof layer structure, bulletproof materials New breakthroughs in bulletproof layer fabric treatment, composite bulletproof materials and other aspects.

The second is the perfection of the industrial chain.
Many people may not know that among nearly 200 countries and regions around the world, only three manufacturing countries can independently complete the whole process from the R & D of bulletproof clothing raw materials to the completion of production, namely the United States, China and the Netherlands.
With complete industrial chain and coordinated development of upstream and downstream, the price advantage is naturally prominent.
The strength of UHMWPE fiber developed in China is close to that of the Netherlands, and the price is much lower than that of similar products in the Netherlands, the United States and Japan.
Therefore, the manufacturing cost of bulletproof vests produced in China can be reduced and has obvious cost advantages in the market.

Great significance in Bulletproof industary

At the beginning of the founding of new China, China’s bulletproof clothing manufacturing technology was backward, which was not worth talking about in the world.
The United States easily monopolized the international market of bulletproof vests with the hot “Kevlar” technology at that time. Bulletproof vests from other countries are either not available or affordable.
Now, our bulletproof vests in China can be manufactured independently and at low prices. They are not only self-sufficient, but also export to earn foreign exchange.
China’s military strength has taken a big step, which has also broken the monopoly of the United States.
The high-quality and cheap Chinese bulletproof vests have greatly reduced the procurement cost of our military equipment.
At a time when global military spending is rising, China’s bulletproof vests reduce the burden on China’s defense budget at a low price.
The per capita military expenditure of the United States was $2224 in 2019, while that of China was less than $200 in the same year.
The price of military products made in China is low not only for bulletproof vests, but also for other products, so the cost of national defense has been reduced.
In addition to self-sufficiency, China’s export of bulletproof vests has also driven China’s economic development.
Manufacturing bulletproof clothing requires chemical enterprises or iron and steel enterprises to produce raw materials, as well as textile enterprises to make fiber fabrics. The garment factory finally completes the finished bulletproof clothing.
The export of bulletproof clothing drives the whole production chain and plays a strong role in driving the economy. Many enterprises in Jiangsu and Zhejiang earn foreign exchange by exporting bulletproof vests.
The most direct function of bulletproof clothing is to strengthen the defense of individual soldiers.
War tests the comprehensive ability of attack and defense. Bulletproof vests undoubtedly improve the defense of individual soldiers.