The VESTLIFE project is a research project at a European level funded by the Preparatory Action in Defence Research of the European Union (GA No 800876), managed by the European Defence Agency within the framework of the call “Force protection and advanced soldier systems beyond current programs ” from 2017. The project started on May 01, 2018 and lasts 36 months.

The project is led by AITEX (Spain) and includes the participation of six partners from five different countries: TECNALIA (Spain); BRAPA CONSULTING (The Netherlands); CITEVE (Portugal); PETROCERAMICS (Italy) and FY-COMPOSITES (Finland).

The project’s technical aspects reside in the development of lighter, modular ballistic protection components. This includes the possibility of increasing the protected area without compromising comfort, by tailoring the protection requirement to the different areas of the body, adapting it to a mission’s level of risk and depending on the importance of where the projectile impacts the soldier’s body.

In addition, embedded NBC sensors will detect possible risks in this regard, in addition to developing a predictive mathematical model of the possible risks expected in the different scenarios that the Armed Forces may find themselves operating in.

After more than a year, the scenarios have been defined and requirements established, both in terms of ballistics, complying with international testing standards, and comfort, by collecting first-hand information from soldiers. Ballistic protection is provided through the development of composite auxetic materials and three-dimensional textiles that complement the more traditional materials.

More information: http://vestlife-project.eu/