Russian soldiers posted a video testing their bulletproof vests. All five bullets penetrated the armor plate completely. "Just f*cking great. Thank you, Ministry of Defense."

And here is the rating of BR4 body Armour

Wasn't it also for the fancy stuff that China is developing? Also this video doesn't mean that Russia hasn't produced better armour (they obviously have, that appears to be unhardened mild steel lol) , just that they can't mass produce it.

ProdigalFrog, it was a different time.

It was back when we didn’t know the Russians were incompetent.

Oh no. The US did that for China. And because it really was time for a new rifle.

My guess is, the institute developed a competent armor, showcased it and got the contract to build them.
Then several levels of managers and executives decided to use a bit less material, use a cheaper supplier and skip a few QC steps, pocketing the surplus contract money.
And then they re-used the vests taken off fallen soldiers several times, sewing shut the bullet holes in the cloth covering (or not).

five layers of tinfoil

That ought to give just enough protection from the liquid that turns frogs gay, at the very least.

The plate should work on its own. The thing that stands out to me is there's not even deformation. None of the impact is being caught and spread out. Just perfect holes. So yeah. Well outside the envelope for where the kevlar shell would have made a difference.

You might be thinking of the anti-spalling coating on the front. Not exactly required but helpful.

That layer traps the prices of the splattered bullet after it impacts the plate. Without it those pieces can hit your chin or arms.

OR you're thinking of ceramic plates? Ceramic breaks up the bullet while the Kevlar behind it catches the slowed and broken pieces.

At least for steel plate, it should work without any supporting material.

Kevlar around it would help catch spalling from a bullet flattening out and spraying little bits of shrapnel out across the surface, but since these ones aren't actually stopping the bullets, there is no spalling to catch.

Designed for the safe looting of home appliance stores

still good against fragments

You are thinking of a flak jacket, which is for shrapnel.

Bullet proof vests should be bullet proof up to a reasonable impact. They won't stop a .50 cal, but are designed to handle assault rifles like the m-16 or AK at a commmon engagement distance when loaded with standard ammunition.

That steel plate in the vest should absolutely be stopping those rifle rounds, that is their main purpose (shrapnel can be stopped with much lighter and more flexible Kevlar).

The fact that these are failing to stop those rounds shows that the steel is likely not heat treated correctly to the proper hardness. Considering how much weight those add to a loadout, if the rest of the vest is Kevlar, those soldiers would likely have a higher survival rate by ditching the ineffective plates entirely in exchange for better mobility.

the us just spent a lot of money picking a new assault rifle specifically because they wanted one that could actually penetrate kevlar now that russia and china are issuing it to their troops

well, i guess maybe china is issuing it to their troops

No, the plate they are showing is specifically made to stop rifle rounds (BR4 rating)

Sapi plates, specifically over level 4 can stop, on average, a single rifle shot. It's more of a second chance than "bullet proof" though.

For real that's my understanding. I think even small arms munitions as well.

No, but Russian bullets will! Not one step back, comrade!

Monolith look so rad.