Source: Textile Review

The first protective clothing and shields were made from animal skins. As civilizations became more advanced, wooden shields and then metal shields came into use. Eventually, metal was also used as body armor, what we now refer to as the suit of armor associated with the knights of the Middle Ages. It was not until the late 19th century that the first use of soft body armor in the United States was recorded.

"If they want war, we will give them one"

You would have heard the above phrase from the big leaders of the nation. Destructive forces are used for having a control over the people. In all the wars that have been fought, textile has played a vital role in providing protection to certain extent to the soldiers. From the skirmishing infantry of the valiant emperors of the past, to the modern day infantry we could see many developments in the field of providing protection in all forms to the soldiers. Steel plates, natural fibres were used before for providing protection. Man' imagination led him into the world of high performance fibres in the textiles used for defence. But we should note that even though there are many developments in this field, it is very difficult for us to provide all the required functionality in a single garment, it has to be provided through layers of materials. And that's what we are going to see in this article. I have started with the history of the ballistic protection textiles and gradually into the modern developments and the various roles of textiles in the modern day war field.

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The Author is B.Text (Textile Technology) D.K.T.E.Societys Textile & Engineering Institute, Rajwada, Ichalkaranji.

Originally published in Textile Review : February 2010

Co-Author : Mr.Anil Yadav

This paper was also presented at event under national level grand fiesta PRAGYAA-2010 Department of Textile Technology of S G G S I E &T., Nanded.