# Project VS4 — Soldier Protective Equipment

**Program element:** 0603827A — Soldier Systems - Advanced Development  
**Project:** VS4  
**Component:** U.S. Army  
**Appropriation:** 2040 — RDT&E, Army  
**Budget Activity:** 4 — Advanced Component Development & Prototypes  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603827A/VS4  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603827A

## Summary

Project VS4 — Soldier Protective Equipment requests $10.6M in FY2027, 19% of the $56.1M requested for program element 0603827A, down 29% on FY2026. 2 R-2A activities decompose the request, 1 new this cycle.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 5.6 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 15.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 10.6 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 7.7 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 7.7 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 7.7 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 7.8 |

> Estimate types are not summed. This project is one leaf of PE 0603827A; the PE total is the sum of its projects, never added to them.

## What project VS4 buys

Funding directly supports the research and development of critical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), with the primary objective of improving Soldier survivability, mobility, and lethality. The project supports efforts to evaluate integrated technologies and prototype systems and supports continual research of test methodologies that expedite PPE technology transitions from the laboratory to operational use. The project supports transitioning capabilities from our Science and Technology (S&T) partners to increase the performance and safety of PPE. The project facilitates testing efforts to evaluate transitioning materials and capabilities that will integrate in the next generation of protective equipment. Funding will continue to support cross-services initiatives to increase commonality.

**R-3 lines of work:** Management Services; Product Development; Test and Evaluation.

## Activities (R-2A) — 2

| Activity | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 | Move | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soldier Protective Equipment (SPE) | 5.6 | 7.5 | 7.6 | +2% | — |
| Blast Overpressure Sensor System | — | — | 3.0 | new | — |

> Activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. In the request year they partition this project exactly; in earlier years they can under-cover it.

### Soldier Protective Equipment (SPE)

**FY2027 planned work.** Project will advance previously developed technologies and improved materials for Torso & Extremity Protection (TEP), Vital Torso Protection (VTP), and the Integrated Head Protection System (IHPS) to reduce mass, increase protection, and align injury criteria with validated test methods. Efforts will address defect limits and optimize lower performance thresholds for operational application. The project will integrate soldier signature management capabilities to reduce multispectral detectability, enhance soldier system integration and fitment to ensure compatibility and comfort across combat gear, and develop blast overpressure mitigation features within torso and head protection systems. Test methods will be refined to measure protection against blast overpressure, ballistic threats, performance across various operational environments, improve fitment, and evaluate new materials for use against emerging threats, while advancing surveillance testing capabilities to update life cycle estimates, refine risk injury criteria, and achieve continued mass reductions. Technical efforts in developmental focus areas will evaluate current and future material and processing upgrades, conduct technical testing on body armor designed to defeat multiple and emerging threats at lower weight, develop improved hard armor ballistic performance, and integrating electronic technology into personal protective equipment to increase communication and situational awareness capabilities while reducing Soldier load burden. Head protection work will include testing eye protection, enhancing blunt force trauma capabilities, and transitioning technologies from the Science and Technology community such as anti-scratch coatings, active light technology to detect laser threats, and integrated hearing protection systems to reduce auditory injuries while maintaining situational awareness. These efforts will deliver improved protective performance, reduced Soldier load, expanded protective coverage against blast and ballistic threats, and standardized fitment and integration criteria that enhance survivability, comfort, and operational effectiveness across the force.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 funding increase supports efforts to refine soldier signature management technology and improve total system integration and fitment.

**FY2026 plans — current year.** The VS4 project will continue to build on previously developed technologies and improved materials for Vital Torso Protection (VTP) and Integrated Head Protection (IHPS) to reduce mass and increase protections with test methods and injury criteria links to these methods. The project will complete the testing procedures for Adaptable Testing and Load Assessment System (ATLAS) Torso and Head. This project will address identified defect limits with the goal of conforming lower performance levels. This lower performance data will be used to analyze optimization for Torso and Head protection. This project will facilitate the development of consistent and repeatable test methods to measure concealability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to include improvements in fitment and explore alternative materials for use against emerging VTP Threats. The project will facilitate test method refinement and improve surveillance testing capabilities to update life cycle estimates, refine risk injury criteria, and continued mass reductions. The project will evaluate current and future material, processing upgrades, and inform stakeholders of new operational capabilities. The project will conduct technical testing on body armor designed to defeat multiple threats with low weight and develop and test materials for improved hard armor ballistic performance to defeat emerging threats. Head Protection efforts will include testing eye protection and blunt force trauma capabilities transitioning from the Science and Technology community such as anti-scratch coating, active light technology that detects laser threats, and improved blunt impact protection.

**FY2025 accomplishments.** The VS4 project continued building upon previously developed technologies and risk reduction efforts for all Torso & Extremity Protection (TEP), Vital Torso Protection (VTP), and Integrated Head Protection System (IHPS) components. The project progressed ongoing assessments of the ballistic performance of PPE to optimize protection levels. The project explored modeling and simulation tools to evaluate helmet pads at a reduced cost and eliminate variations in helmet testing. Funding supported the initial evaluations of surrogate projectiles on hard armor solutions to accelerate efforts towards an advanced hard armor design. The project continued its partnership with the science and technology community to refine evaluations of conformal or flexible plate technology. The project advanced enhancements to current test methodologies, which are critical for obtaining consistent and reliable measurements of the impact of behind-helmet and behind-armor blunt trauma. Continued assessments of PPE against blunt impact are critical for establishing injury-based evaluation metrics that will inform requirements and future development efforts. The VS4 project continued to standardize test protocols, serving as the foundation for future projects to build upon in the pursuit of refining protective solutions and improving Soldier survivability.

### Blast Overpressure Sensor System — NEW START

**FY2027 planned work.** The Blast Overpressure Sensor System (BOSS) project will address tactical integration, product development, data management, medical record integration, and operational testing and evaluation. The project will collaborate with the Science and Technology (S&T) community to assess existing medical technologies and advance product development. The project will conduct research and development tests to evaluate the technology's blast monitoring performance across various operational environments. The project scope includes in-depth tactical network integration to transfer data from the sensor to the data repository and the medical record. The ultimate objective is to advance the development of the BOSS for integration with the electronic health record, enhancing medical care for Warfighters exposed to blast overpressure events.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** FY 2027 funding increase supports advanced tactical integration and data repository support for future integration with the electronic health record.

## What is NOT on this page

Congressional marks, the R-2 mission description and acquisition strategy, the industry vs government split of the whole request, and related program elements are recorded at **program-element** grain — an NDAA mark lands on a PE, never on a project. They are at https://hitchintel.com/programs/0603827A.

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Army RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-2A/R-3, PE 0603827A project VS4 (PB PB2027).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0603827A")`.

*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense. Budget figures are requests/estimates, not obligations.*