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Standards families, crosswalked

NIJ, UK Home Office, VPAM, ASTM and military test methods, side by side: why their levels do not translate one to one, and how NIJ 0123.00 gives the NIJ family a single threat list.

ArmorList Editorial·April 15, 2026·6 min read

Buyers who work across borders meet several standards for the same kind of product. Their level names look comparable and are not.

ArmorList already lists the standards themselves. The standards registry names each one with its publisher and document, and the Global Ballistic Standards guide walks through NIJ, VPAM, STANAG and GOST in turn. This article does a different job. It shows why levels do not translate between families, how NIJ is now tying its own family to one threat list, and how to compare a claim made under one standard with a requirement written under another.

Why levels do not convert

Each standard picks its own test threats, its own velocities, its own backing and its own pass criteria. Two levels with similar names can be tested against different rounds at different speeds, measured in different ways. A level is only meaningful inside the standard that defines it.

The main families

  • NIJ Standard 0101.07, with its levels defined in NIJ Standard 0123.00: ballistic body armor for U.S. law enforcement. Levels HG1, HG2, RF1, RF2 and RF3.
  • NIJ Standard 0101.06: the earlier edition, closed to new models, its list still maintained. Levels IIA, II, IIIA, III and IV.
  • The UK Home Office Body Armour Standard (2017): body armour for UK police, with levels such as HO1 to HO4.
  • VPAM: test guidelines from an association of European test laboratories, with numbered levels.
  • NIJ Standard 0106.01 (1981): NIJ's ballistic helmet standard, which sorts helmets into three types by level of performance.
  • NIJ Standard 0108.01 (1985): ballistic resistant protective materials, such as those used to make portable shields and to protect fixed structures and vehicles. It does not cover body armor or helmets.
  • ASTM E3347: ballistic shields for U.S. law enforcement, with handgun and rifle levels of its own.
  • ASTM E3368: ballistic helmets for U.S. public safety officers, against handgun and rifle ammunition.
  • MIL-STD-662F: a U.S. military test method that measures a ballistic limit (V50). It measures; it does not grade.

Stab resistance is a separate question. NIJ Standard 0115.00 tests armor against knives and spikes and has its own compliance list. A ballistic level says nothing about stab protection, and a stab level says nothing about bullets.

How they differ in practice

Handgun levels show the point. The UK HO1 and HO2 levels both use 9 mm rounds, with HO2 at a higher, sub-machine-gun velocity. HO3 adds rifle threats, including the 7.62 x 51 mm NATO ball round. NIJ's handgun and rifle levels use their own threat lists in 0123.00, and VPAM numbers its levels in increasing order of resistance, from 1 to 10 in the current edition of its guideline. A vest compliant at one level in one system has not been tested to the other system's rounds unless it was tested to both.

Pass criteria differ too. NIJ measures backface signature in a clay backing and sets a maximum. VPAM judges penetration against a thin aluminum witness plate behind the specimen. MIL-STD-662F does not pass or fail anything on its own: it measures the velocity at which a projectile has a 50 percent chance of penetrating, and a procurement specification then sets the number that counts.

Helmets and shields: an NIJ standard and an ASTM one

For U.S. law enforcement body armor, the claim is made under an NIJ standard. Helmets and shields each have two documents a claim can be made under, one from NIJ and one from ASTM. For helmets, NIJ's standard is 0106.01, from 1981. For shields, the NIJ document is 0108.01, which covers the ballistic materials a shield is made from rather than the finished shield. ASTM committee E54 has since published specifications for the finished products: E3368 for ballistic helmets and E3347 for ballistic shields.

ASTM also runs a verification program for these specifications. An independent third party evaluates the product, verified products go on an online list, and they may carry the ASTM verified mark. In early 2025 ASTM reported that the NASPO ValuePoint cooperative contract intends to require ASTM verification for ballistic shields. For a helmet or shield, the label is a starting point: check the verified list for the exact model.

One threat list for many standards: NIJ 0123.00

NIJ published Standard 0123.00 in November 2023, alongside 0101.07. It is a short standalone document with a narrow job. It defines the NIJ ballistic protection levels and, for each level, the test rounds and their reference velocities. It sets no performance requirements and no test methods: those stay in the equipment standard that uses it.

Body armor was the first to use it. 0101.07 tests vests to the levels 0123.00 defines: HG1 and HG2 for handguns, RF1, RF2 and RF3 for rifles. NIJ says it anticipates that future revisions of its helmet and shield standards will reference the same document.

The reason NIJ gives is interoperability. With the threats in one document, NIJ can respond to a new threat once, instead of revising several performance standards that would carry identical levels. It has already worked that way: NIJ has published two addenda to 0123.00 with interpretations and clarifications for test laboratories, and says it expects to publish more.

For buyers, the point is that a level name can come to mean the same threat across product types. If NIJ's helmet and shield revisions reference 0123.00 as it anticipates, an RF2 helmet and an RF2 vest will have faced the same rounds at the same reference velocities, each under its own test method and pass criteria. Until those revisions are published, that holds for body armor only.

ASTM sits alongside this, not inside it. 0101.07 builds its test procedures on ASTM test methods and practices, and ASTM E3347 names its shield levels in a similar pattern, such as ASTM-Shield-RF1. We found no ASTM statement that E3347 adopts the 0123.00 threats by reference (checked 26 September 2026). Read the level definitions in the edition you buy against.

The NIJ levels themselves changed with the move. Level II became HG1 and Level IIIA became HG2. Levels III and IV were revised into three rifle levels, RF1, RF2 and RF3, and RF2 was added to cover the 5.56 mm M855 round. Level IIA was retired with no successor. ArmorList's NIJ crosswalk sets this out in one table.

How to compare a claim

  • Name the standard, edition and level the claim is made under. For a helmet or shield, that includes whether it is the NIJ or the ASTM document.
  • Find the exact model on that body's own list or certificate.
  • If your requirement is written under a different standard, ask for a test report to your standard. Do not accept a mapped level in its place.
  • Record the date you read each status.
  • Where a solicitation names more than one standard, say which one governs if the results disagree.
Equivalence is a test result, not a name match. When two standards matter, ask for the test to both.

Sources

  1. NIJ, Specification for NIJ Ballistic Protection Levels and Associated Test Threats, NIJ Standard 0123.00Read September 25, 2026
  2. NIJ, Compliant Products List: Ballistic Resistant Body ArmorRead September 25, 2026
  3. NIJ, NIJ Standard 0123.00, Addendum 2Read September 26, 2026
  4. NIJ, Ballistic Resistance of Body Armor, NIJ Standard 0101.07Read September 26, 2026
  5. CJTTEC, New Ballistic-Resistant Body Armor Standard PublishedRead September 25, 2026
  6. UK Home Office, Body Armour Standard (2017) Guidance, CAST publication 039/17Read September 25, 2026
  7. VPAM, APR test guideline, edition 3Read September 25, 2026
  8. ASTM E3347/E3347M-26, Standard Specification for Ballistic-Resistant Shields Used by Law Enforcement OfficersRead October 1, 2026
  9. ASTM, Increasing Confidence in the Performance of Ballistic ShieldsRead October 1, 2026
  10. NIJ, NIJ Standard for Ballistic Helmets, NIJ Standard 0106.01Read September 26, 2026
  11. NIJ, Ballistic Resistant Protective Materials, NIJ Standard 0108.01Read September 26, 2026
  12. NIJ, Stab Resistance of Personal Body Armor, NIJ Standard 0115.00Read September 26, 2026
  13. ASTM E3368/E3368M, Standard Specification for Ballistic-Resistant Helmets Worn by U.S. Public Safety OfficersRead September 26, 2026
  14. ASTM, Standards to Protect Those Who Protect UsRead September 26, 2026
  15. MIL-STD-662F, V50 Ballistic Test for ArmorRead September 25, 2026
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