Body armour is not centrally recalled for the purpose of redistribution.
Details of the body armour supplied in the last five years are shown in the table:
Type Sets Component Parts Enhanced Combat Body Armour (ECBA) — 704,205 Kestrel Body Armour 4,600 — Osprey Body Armour 15,500 — Notes: 1. ECBA component parts comprise fillers, plates, desert covers, woodland covers, civilian blue covers and UN blue covers. 2. Over the last five years approximately 168,500 ECBA ballistic plates have been supplied. These are generally issued at a rate of two plates each, which equates to approximately 84,250 individuals. However there are occasions where individual plates may be issued, such as replacements for damaged plates, and some will be held as stock.
It is policy that all personnel deploying on operations are issued with their personnel set of ECBA. In addition to this standard issue capability, two additional variants of body armour have been developed to meet different operational requirements known as Kestrel Osprey body armour. These different types of body armour allow force commanders to choose the appropriate balance between protection and mobility depending on the specific operational circumstances, threats and missions. There are enough sets of all types of body armour in Iraq and Afghanistan to supply all those that need them.
In the early stages of Telic, there was an acknowledged initial shortfall of ECBA in theatre. The allocation of ECBA was, therefore, decided locally by commanders on the ground, based on role: dismounted close combat soldiers, primarily infantry, were given the highest priority, followed by soldiers mounted in unarmoured vehicles, mounted armoured soldiers considered the lowest risk.