Military.com reported in a recent article about a team of undergraduate students at UVA working on a new armor plate. Interestingly, they claim it will be “The new armor design will be lighter, more flexible and better able to withstand armor-piercing bullets than the 30-pound vest now used by the Army.” Sounds like a new take on scalar armor considering the team hopes to contain as many as 32 rounds of armor piercing. According to National Guardsman and student Jeff O’dell, their design philosophy is to contain the cracks in ceramic materials formed as it stops threats in order to prevent back face deformation.