Osprey body armour review I picked up a full un-issued set of this without the soft or hard armor for about £89 off ebay. Hi All, Just a quick review. When in combat soldiers need to be protected against a variety of ballistic threats including being able to stop an AK47 armour piercing round. Feb 28, 2018 · The Osprey series of body armour and accessories has been in service with the British Army since 2006 and has gone through four distinct marks. . The Osprey and the Virtus use a proprietary cut of soft armour and hard armour. The body armour system is designed and manufactured by CQC Ltd, a long-standing UK-based manufacturer that has provided various items for the Ministry of Defence, [8] with some additional batches produced by Solo International Ltd. In anticipation of this, work has been ongoing to prepare future ballistic protection programmes for a potential British Combat Body Armour The British army currently uses Osprey body armour to protect their troops in battle. [9] The Osprey system is modular and built around two vest halves which, when assembled, cover the wearer's torso. Introduction OSPREY personal armour has been issued to UK forces since 2005. Hard plates are a size and shape based on the US ground troops ceramic plate back during the Vietnam war, much longer and wider than SAPIs (though cut aggressively around the shoulders). Osprey armour was a major advance on previous designs as it was scalable meaning it could be adapted for differing threat levels and had much larger hard plates than the old ECBA. From 2015, the VIRTUS personal armour and load carriage system have been progressively replacing OSPREY. Of course, at that time, the British were wearing the Osprey MKII carrier , which is in their desert camo pattern. At the time I was sent down to that base, it was still run by the British as COB Basra. Suitable armour would be flexible and durable and will not restrict the wearer’s movement. I first saw the Osprey line of body armor in Basrah, Iraq. At the moment they are all over the place on ebay here. In 2016, the ban on women in ground close combat roles throughout the UK’s Armed Forces was lifted.