Dupont and Point Blank Enterprises Join Forces to Create Elite EXO

Creating a better fiber

In the spring of 2023, DuPont unveiled its newest aramid fiber, Kevlar EXO, which the company touted as the most significant aramid fiber innovation in over 50 years and an entirely new technology platform developed to serve applications where performance and protection is required in the midst of intense and demanding conditions. With an emphasis on being lightweight and flexible, along with high-level ballistic performance, the company’s goal from day one was to help create the next advancement in soft body armor.

The name “EXO” comes from “exoskeleton” and the idea that the fiber will conform to a parson and act as a sort of second skin. The company spent more than a decade developing, refining and perfecting Kevlar EXO, and first brought it to the United States Army. In 2023, DuPont debuted Kevlar EXO at the United States Army Rangers’ Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Georgia.

“The U.S. Army saw the performance of what this fiber was at a small scale,” says Kennedy. “They saw that there would be obviously an important use of this in future military applications.” He added that the first armor application of Kevlar EXO was next generation Army bomb suit, which is currently in the first article test and in initial low-rate production. 

Kennedy says it took a lot of time to work with Point Blank on the design and incorporation of it into the fiber and structure to create a soft armor and then to get it certified and that the Elite EXO Level II was the first NIJ certified vest on the market created using the new fiber.

The perfect match

Both companies are well known and regarded in their industries. Point Blank Enterprises was founded in 1973, while DuPont has been around for 200 years and developed Kevlar in 1965.

“This is a heritage of two market leaders. Fifty years ago, Kevlar was invented, It set the standard, initially, in law enforcement armor, but there’s been other materials that have surpassed it in performance and capability,” says Kennedy. “DuPont decided to double down and invest in innovating what could be the next level of performance in fiber. Once we got to the point—it was probably five years ago—where we had a viable product that we could start to test and develop with a partner—Point Blank is the market leader in their space—so it was our first choice in terms of collaboration, and the whole armor design process has been a collaboration.”

“This is a heritage of two market leaders. Fifty years ago, Kevlar was invented, It set the standard, initially, in law enforcement armor, but there’s been other materials that have surpassed it in performance and capability,” says Kennedy. “DuPont decided to double down and invest in innovating what could be the next level of performance in fiber. Once we got to the point—it was probably five years ago—where we had a viable product that we could start to test and develop with a partner—Point Blank is the market leader in their space—so it was our first choice in terms of collaboration, and the whole armor design process has been a collaboration.”

Kennedy added that Point Blank’s applications team tested the very first pilot line structures of Kevlar EXO and assisted with feedback along the way. “We could make those adjustments in order to really bring to you what we have today in Elite EXO,” he says. “It wasn’t just a focus on lowest weight or best possible performance, it was also trying to balance that with the comfort and flexibility that maybe really wasn’t available at this level performance. Point Blank was an important partner—the applications expertise they have—to help get us through the test, design, development and baseline.”

In many cases, armor manufacturers take materials off the shelf and put them into a product. Both Haynes and Kennedy says the development of the Elite EXO was a collaborative effort aimed at optimizing the soft body armor product.

“The long view to this is that we’re just getting started. Between the two organizations, we’re talking about the next 10 to 15 years of armor advancements,” says Haynes. “From the armor material perspective, there hasn’t been any really hugely innovative developments in in the span of a decade. It’s a long time coming, and we’re primed and ready to really change the industry.”

The “Elite” name comes from Point Blank’s long-standing Alpa Elite series of ballistic offerings.  We took the EXO material and moniker and branched off to make that next new chapter of Alpha Elite with the Elite EXO series,” says Haynes. “It’s definitely meant to be the beginning of that next new chapter of that generational advancement in the franchise.”

A focus on female officers

Another goal of the Elite EXO is to contour to curves and body lines, providing a more body-inclusive solution. The female patent-pending model MX6 as the most advanced female model available from Point Blank and was developed by a female ballistic engineer. During his 20 years in the industry, Haynes says that while there has always been a female offering, the technology and materials weren’t there to make a truly conforming female vest. “We all know that the female segment of law enforcement is the fastest growing segment, and we do know that body types are changing. One size doesn’t fit all in the armor industry anymore,” he says. “It just made a lot of sense for us to take the opportunity that we had with the EXO material and just use that to really make a very advanced female design.”

The female engineer from Point Blank created a feathered design using Kevlar EXO, where the layers were interwoven and tapered to allow it to be flexible and conforming in a way that wasn’t possible in the past. Haynes says Point Blank reached out to its female contacts in law enforcement and got them involved firsthand in the wear test and development. “At SHOT Show we had a SWAT operator and detective who was the very first on the street to put that armor on her on her back and give us feedback,” he says. “Having those types of relationships, having that development time frame to really make a unique and markedly better package, was huge for us.”

Aside from the feathered design, Haynes added that features including bringing the underarm area up and into the side area, and eliminating gaps and hard points like seams helped increase comfort. “The response right out of the gates from the female segment that we’ve worked with has been overwhelmingly positive,” he says. “We’re very excited about that, and we’ve, we’ve put some specific marketing emphasis on that segment because we know we have a special product.”

According to Kennedy, the flexibility of Kevlar EXO lends itself to be used in applications like more conforming body armor. “In the past, often there’d be a very thick seam on the bust line. When you look at a cross-section of old style female armor and the new one, you can see it is going to be a game changer, especially in that female space,” he says, adding that males inherit those benefits as well. “If you get the option between the worst case scenario, which is like a rigid plate, or the best case scenario, which is, let’s say T-shirt or a tank top, we’re trying to drive towards that best case scenario in terms of even some of those pain points that an officer, whether male or female, would feel as they go about their daily life.”

The future of EXO

LEVEL II and IIIA FEEL THE FUTURE OF BODY ARMOR ELITE-EXO.COM Request information at Officer.com/10037315 Haynes stresses that “comfort” and “flexibility” are key terms going forward as the Elite EXO series evolves. “The Elite EXO portfolio will be throughout all of our all of our brands and this will definitely be the Tier 1 offering,” he says. “At the end of the day, it’s about offering higher performing, safer product for law enforcement across the board.”

forcement across the board.” Kennedy says that while Kevlar EXO is in its first generation, DuPont will continue to improve and optimize the fabric, as it did with the previous iteration. “We have decades of data on Kevlar, and now, fortunately, we have a decade plus of data on this new fiber. We cannot have our product perform really well on day one and then question the performance on day 365 or day 1000 or 2000. It’s really important for us that this material performs well past even its guaranteed service life,” adding that’s where the relationship with Point Blank plays a big role.”The key piece for us on the Research and Development side is getting a lot of that feedback from Point Blank in those wear trials and say, ‘Hey, you know, we need this edge protection here, but maybe we need to modify this product a little bit.’ That allows that circular collaboration that we’ve done so well here over the past couple years where we’re partners in design. It really allows for that feedback loop to create the best possible product.”

When it comes to looking to the future, Kennedy says that is what makes him the most excited. “When you think about historical Kevlar, the initial product was a woven type fabric, but over time it was kind of morphed into all these different types of products that are doing different things. They are providing better trauma protection, providing better fragment protection.

“We started with that woven material, and then we’ve also incorporated our core matrix technology, which is a consolidation process that allows for a structure that takes a lot of the issues out of the manufacturing by providing better fragment performance, better bullet catching ability, etc. But there are multiple products that are kind of in the queue where we’re going to be able to take advantage of this fiber and convert it into other materials that are doing other jobs associated with the vest. We’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg with Elite EXO.”