Understanding the protection offered by Level III body armor matters to anyone choosing a rifle plate, in law enforcement, the military or as a civilian. Level III is a rifle level, and what it protects against is set by the test that defines it.
Choosing armor involves more than the level. Comfort, weight and fit decide whether armor is worn.
The research on body armor in general is worth knowing. In a study funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Liu and Taylor (2017) analyzed FBI data on officers assaulted with firearms or cutting instruments and killed or severely injured from 2002 to 2011, and found that among the 637 officers shot in the torso, those wearing body armor were 76 percent less likely to be killed than those without it. The study covered body armor in general, not Level III in particular. For more on the role of armor in law enforcement, explore The Role of Body Armor in Law Enforcement.
This guide covers the rounds Level III was tested against, how it compares with the current NIJ levels, and what to check.
Understanding Level III body armor
Level III is a level of hard armor under NIJ Standard 0101.06. CJTTEC, which administers the NIJ Compliance Testing Program, says NIJ 0101.07 names its levels "HG" for handgun and "RF" for rifle, with "a reduction in soft-armor levels and an additional hard-armor protection level". Level III plates are made from steel, ceramic or polyethylene, alone or in combination.
For a breakdown of the hard armor levels, see Breaking Down Hard Body Armor Levels.
The Level III test round is the 7.62mm NATO FMJ (M80), 147 gr, at 2,780 ft/s. It is the only round the 0101.06 Level III test names. The Level III test does not include an armor-piercing round; under 0101.06 that is Level IV, tested against the .30 caliber M2 AP. See what Level IV armor is tested to stop.
NIJ stopped accepting new 0101.06 models for testing on 5 January 2024, and NIJ anticipates maintaining the 0101.06 Compliant Products List (CPL) through at least the end of calendar year 2029. A Level III listing is not expired.
Key features of Level III body armor
Level III armor is tested against one rifle round. Weight, thickness and cost vary by model, and we do not rank levels or materials on them: compare the stated figures and quotes for the exact model.
What the sources say about the materials:
- Steel is a dense metal. A 2009 study of steel-panel body armor (Egorov et al.) reports that fragments from a bullet striking hard steel can ricochet and injure the wearer's arms, face or neck. Ask what fragment layer a steel plate has and how it was tested.
- Ceramic is among the materials the National Research Council credits with reducing the weight of armor for personnel. CJTTEC advises against dropping ceramic plates on hard surfaces, which can cause breaks or cracks that can affect performance.
- Polyethylene (UHMWPE) is among the polymer fibers the National Research Council credits with reducing armor weight, and NIST has studied how heat can reduce the strength of UHMWPE fibers.
For more on materials, see Materials Used in Armor Plates Explained.
What Level III body armor protects against
A Level III listing says the model passed the 0101.06 test against the M80, at 2,780 ft/s, with the standard's shot pattern. The rifle rounds in NIJ's current threat specification are tested at 2,400 to 3,250 ft/s, against 1,305 to 1,470 ft/s for the handgun rounds.
A listing does not show the model was tested against other rifle rounds, against armor-piercing rounds, or against more hits than the standard's pattern. Real-world multi-hit capacity beyond the test is not established by the test. NIJ's Body Armor User Guide says no body armor is bulletproof, and that armor can be penetrated by an impact too close to an edge or to another impact.
For more, see Can Body Armor Stop Multiple Hits?.
Level III, RF1 and RF2
Under NIJ 0101.07, the levels are defined in NIJ 0123.00, and the nearest levels are RF1 and RF2:
| Level | Test rounds |
|---|---|
| Level III (0101.06) | 7.62mm NATO FMJ (M80), 147 gr, at 2,780 ft/s |
| RF1 (0101.07) | 7.62x51mm M80, 149 gr, at 2,780 ft/s; 7.62x39mm Type 56 MSC, at 2,400 ft/s; 5.56mm M193, 56 gr, at 3,250 ft/s |
| RF2 (0101.07) | The RF1 rounds plus the 5.56mm M855, 61.8 gr, at 3,115 ft/s |
NIJ 0123.00 maps some old levels to new ones (RF1 replaces Level III; RF3 replaces Level IV), but a model's listing does not carry over. Each level is defined by its own test threats, and a model listed at Level III has not been listed at RF1 or RF2 unless it appears on the 0101.07 list.
The 0101.06 Level III test does not name a 5.56mm round. If 5.56mm rounds are in your threat assessment, look for a model tested against them: under 0101.07, RF1 includes the M193 and RF2 adds the M855.
What "Level III+" means. "Level III+" is a real industry term, and it is not an NIJ level. No standard defines the plus, so it can mean any number of extra rounds, or none. Our advice: read the product specification for the rounds it names, and ask for the ballistic test reports behind it, from a lab whose report can be validated.
Checking a Level III plate
- Find the exact model on the list for the standard it claims, read its status, and note the date you read it. The CPL is per model.
- Check whether the plate was tested alone or in conjunction with a specific soft armor model. CJTTEC says a plate should be used only with the specific soft armor model it was tested with: together they make an in-conjunction model.
- For a plate outside the NIJ program, ask which standard it was tested to and for the lab report. Not being on the CPL is not, by itself, a sign of poor quality; the CPL answers whether a model met NIJ's program, which matters where a buyer, policy or funder requires it.
For how materials compare, see Are Steel Plates Better Than Ceramic Plates?.
Sources
- NIJ, Ballistic Resistance of Body Armor, NIJ Standard-0101.06 (PDF) (read 2026-09-29)
- NIJ, Specification for NIJ Ballistic Protection Levels and Associated Test Threats, NIJ Standard 0123.00 (read 2026-09-29)
- NIJ, NIJ Standard 0123.00 (PDF) (read 2026-09-29)
- NIJ, NIJ Standard 0123.00, Addendum 1 (read 2026-09-29)
- NIJ, Compliant Products List: Ballistic Resistant Body Armor (read 2026-09-29)
- CJTTEC, NIJ Standard 0101.07 Information (read 2026-09-25)
- CJTTEC, New Ballistic-Resistant Body Armor Standard Published (read 2026-10-01)
- CJTTEC, Body Armor FAQs (read 2026-09-25)
- CJTTEC, Body Armor Care and Replacement (read 2026-09-30)
- NIJ, Body Armor User Guide (read 2026-09-29)
- Liu and Taylor, Effect of Body Armor on Saving Officers' Lives: An Analysis Using LEOKA Data, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (2017), NCJ 252310 (read 2026-10-01)
- NIJ, Body Armor: Protecting Our Nation's Officers From Ballistic Threats, NIJ Journal 280 (read 2026-10-01)
- National Research Council, Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications (2011) (read 2026-09-30)
- Tsinas et al. (NIST), Effects of Thermal Aging on Molar Mass of Ultra-High Molar Mass Polyethylene Fibers, Polymers (2022) (PMC) (read 2026-09-30)
- Egorov et al., Investigation of Anti-Ricochet Properties of Body Armor with Steel Armor Panels, Techniczne Wyroby Wlokiennicze (2009) (read 2026-09-30)