NP Aerospace and Dyneema advance armour for military servicewomen
Image courtesy Avient
With 2,000 new armour systems, including 4,000 plates, made in the UK and delivered in June 2026, this collaboration addresses a long-standing lack of high-quality personal protection specially built for female defense and security personnel. Backed by many years of battle-proven capability, Dyneema lightweight, high-strength UD materials together with NP Aerospace’s innovative designs are specifically for female operators’ mobility, comfort and safety.
Industry-standard hard body armour does not provide equal protection for female service personnel, as plates are designed around male body geometry, creating coverage gaps when worn by many women.
NP Aerospace’s modelling shows that a female-contoured curved hard armour plate delivers more than 10% greater average ballistic coverage across all threat angles, with improvements of up to 40% in certain scenarios (e.g. elevated threat angles), compared to standard ESAPI plates.
NP Aerospace has rectified this issue by producing body armour systems designed to fit the contours of the female body, thereby supporting safer load carriage, better mobility and improved safety.
NP Aerospace selected Dyneema, the world’s strongest fiber, as a key ingredient material in its new personal protection solution for women. All Dyneema UD material supplied to NP Aerospace is produced at Avient’s Dyneema manufacturing facility in the Netherlands. Each armour system consists of a curved hard-armour plate for the front, an industry-standard ESAPI hard-armour plate for the rear and a body armour carrier with integrated soft armour. By using Dyneema UD material, the armour system delivers outstanding ballistic stopping power at an unprecedented low weight and provides excellent protection against rifle and armour-piercing threats. It comes in a range of sizes with varying degrees of curvature and coverage, providing vital protection for organs from all angles, regardless of body shape, while also substantially improving comfort.
James Kempston, CEO at NP Aerospace, said: “We have a long-standing and trusted relationship with Avient and Dyneema, having used their materials in multiple armor programmes for many years. It was the natural choice for us to return to Dyneema materials to help develop our groundbreaking new women’s body armour solution. Together we are leading the way, globally, protecting women working in high-risk and harsh environments, with a body armour solution that is optimised to address the specific and unique challenges – delivering improved protection and comfort.”
“We are proud to collaborate with NP Aerospace on an armour system that has been purpose-built for women,” said Marcelo van de Kamp, Global Business Director of Personal Protection for Dyneema at Avient. “By combining NP Aerospace’s expertise in armor design with the outstanding strength-to-weight ratio of Dyneema materials, we’re delivering unmatched protection for women in the field and enabling the comfort and agility they need to operate at their best.”
As the only ballistic materials manufacturer to produce both its fibre and UD in-house at dual manufacturing sites in Europe and the US, the Dyneema brand is used by many of the world’s elite forces.
The NP Aerospace and Dyneema teams will be showcasing their solutions at Eurosatory, 15th-19th June, at the Paris’ Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre.
