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NIJ vs. VPAM vs. STANAG: Understanding the Differences in Body Armor Standards

NIJ, VPAM and STANAG are different documents with different jobs: what each one covers, how each tests, why their levels do not convert into each other, and how to read a claim made under any of them.

ArmorList Editorial·September 29, 2025·7 min read

NIJ vs. VPAM vs. STANAG: understanding the differences in body armor standards

Choosing body armor is not only about a "level". It is about which standard your requirement, your funder or your buyer names, and what that standard actually tested. This guide sets out how the U.S. NIJ standards, the European VPAM test guidelines and NATO's STANAG documents differ, so you can read a claim made under each. To look up how a model is recorded, use the ArmorList directory; for the documents themselves, the standards registry.

At a glance: what each standard covers

  • NIJ: U.S. standards for law enforcement body armor. NIJ certifies torso-worn ballistic resistant body armor for law enforcement, model by model, through its Compliance Testing Program. NIJ Standard 0101.07 sets the test methods; NIJ Standard 0123.00 sets the protection levels and their test rounds (HG1 and HG2 for handguns; RF1, RF2 and RF3 for rifles). Compliant models are listed on NIJ's Compliant Products List (CPL).
  • VPAM: test guidelines published by an association of European test laboratories. For personal armor, the VPAM BSW is its test guideline for ballistic protective vests, and the VPAM HVN covers bullet-resistant helmets, visors and neck protection, both built on its general guideline, the VPAM APR.
  • STANAG: NATO standardization agreements. STANAG 2920, with AEP-2920, covers testing and classifying personal armour, and reports fragment results as a V50. STANAG 4569 sets protection levels for occupants of armoured vehicles, not body armor.

NIJ: U.S. law enforcement body armor (0101.07 and 0123.00)

  • Scope: torso-worn ballistic resistant body armor for law enforcement, soft and hard, tested pass or fail against the handgun (HG1, HG2) and rifle (RF1, RF2, RF3) rounds defined in NIJ 0123.00, using the methods in NIJ 0101.07. Stab armor has its own standard (0115.00) and its own list.
  • Measurements: penetration, and backface deformation measured in a clay backing. The clay is Roma Plastilina No. 1, which NIST describes as essential for establishing injury limits in standards-based ballistic resistance testing of body armor. Samples are conditioned before testing.
  • Procurement: the CPL answers one question, whether a model met NIJ's program, and matters where a buyer, policy or funder requires it. The federal Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP) funds only vests on the CPL as of the date the armor was ordered. Check the exact model on the CPL, with the date you read it.
  • Transition: 0101.07 references 0123.00 so the threats sit in one document NIJ can update once. NIJ has published addenda to both. 0101.06 is not expired: NIJ stopped accepting new 0101.06 models on 5 January 2024 and anticipates maintaining the 0101.06 list through at least the end of calendar year 2029.

For more on NIJ's levels, see what changed in NIJ 0101.07.

VPAM: European test guidelines for personal armor (BSW and HVN)

  • BSW (ballistic protective vests): sets product-specific requirements, classes and test procedures for vests. It includes shots at 25 degrees at locations the guideline specifies, and sets a maximum permissible indentation depth in the backing material, derived from the backing material's measured plasticity.
  • HVN (helmets, visors and neck protection): its test specimens are conditioned, among other steps, at +20 °C and 65 percent relative humidity and at +70 °C.
  • Classes: VPAM numbers its protection classes in increasing order of resistance, from 1 to 10 in the current edition of its general guideline, and names each by its test ammunition. Under the APR, penetration is judged against a thin aluminum witness plate behind the specimen.
  • Where to find the result: we found no VPAM-published list of tested models comparable to NIJ's CPL (checked 1 October 2026). Testing is done by laboratories, so the evidence is the test report or certificate from the laboratory that tested the model.

Current edition: VPAM APR, edition 3 (15 March 2021); VPAM BSW 2006, as of 14 May 2009 (checked 30 September 2026).

STANAG: NATO methods and vehicle levels (2920 and 4569)

  • STANAG 2920 and AEP-2920: a NATO agreement on testing and classifying personal armour. The Czech defence standard that implements it describes fragment testing with fragment-simulating projectiles (FSPs), with results reported as a V50: the velocity at which a projectile has a 50 percent chance of penetrating, the same definition the U.S. test method MIL-STD-662F uses. A V50 is a figure, not a pass or fail, and it is used for military personal armour and combat helmets.
  • STANAG 4569 and AEP-55: protection levels for occupants of armoured vehicles. NATO's Science and Technology Organization describes AEP-55 volumes with procedures for evaluating vehicle protection against mine and IED threats. It is not a body armor standard.
  • Use: relevant when a military program specifies fragment protection or a vehicle protection level, alongside any requirement for bullet protection.

If a requirement reads as a V50 against a named fragment-simulating projectile, it is a fragment test, under STANAG 2920 or a method such as MIL-STD-662F: ask which. If it reads as a vehicle protection level, it is STANAG 4569.

Current edition: STANAG 2920 Edition 3 with AEP-2920 Edition A, as the Czech implementing standard lists it (checked 30 September 2026). We could not open the NATO Standardization Office's own listing.

Can you cross-map the levels? (Short answer: do not.)

There is no one-to-one equivalence between NIJ HG and RF levels, VPAM classes and STANAG V50 figures or vehicle levels: test rounds, velocities, angles, hit spacing, conditioning and pass criteria differ. Treat the standards as parallel systems. If you must compare, specify the exact test round and velocity, and ask for the test report or certificate under each standard that matters. A mapped level is not a test result. On ArmorList, a product record shows the standards the model is recorded as tested to and, for NIJ, its CPL status with the date the list was read.

Level III+ and special-threat claims

"Level III+" is a real industry term, not an NIJ level, and no standard defines the plus: it can mean any number of extra rounds, or none. NIJ's own intermediate rifle level is RF2, the RF1 rounds plus the 5.56 M855. For any "+" or special-threat claim, ask for the product specification and the ballistic test report behind it, from a laboratory whose report can be validated: the round, its mass and construction, the velocity, the number of shots and the distance.

Which standard should you use?

The one your requirement names. Our advice, by buyer:

  • U.S. law enforcement: NIJ 0101.07 with NIJ 0123.00, or 0101.06 while its list is maintained. Where BVP funds the purchase or your policy requires it, the model must be on the CPL.
  • European and other police buyers: the standard the buyer's specification names, such as a VPAM guideline or a national requirement, with the laboratory's test report or certificate.
  • Military and NATO programs: whatever the contract specifies, which may combine bullet protection under one standard with a STANAG 2920 fragment V50 and, for vehicles, a STANAG 4569 level.

Not being on the CPL is not, by itself, a sign of poor quality: armor tested to another standard, or outside NIJ's scope, is judged on its own evidence.

Key links

  • ArmorList directory: products and the standards they are recorded with
  • Standards registry: each standard, linked to the document that publishes it
  • NIJ 0101.07 (official)
  • NIJ 0123.00 (official)

Bottom line

Use NIJ where a U.S. law enforcement buyer, policy or funder requires it, with its defined handgun and rifle rounds; read VPAM classes by the ammunition behind them and the laboratory report; read STANAG 2920 as a fragment V50 and STANAG 4569 as a vehicle level. Name the standard and edition, specify the exact threats, and keep the test reports, conditioning and backface or V50 results with the purchase record.

Sources

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