Product Description
Ranger Body Armor (RBA) is a US military-issue ballistic vest that was designed for, and used chiefly by, US Army 75th Ranger Regiment operators ("Rangers") in the 1990s and 2000s. The RBA system has since been replaced by other specialized body armor systems adopted by the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).
Ranger Body Armor (RBA) was designed by the United States Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Massachusetts to meet the operational needs of the 75th Ranger Regiment. RBA was first manufactured by Protective Materials Company, then HS Manufacturing, and then Ceradyne.
Early versions of RBA (the first variant, which featured only the front ballistic armor plate and no rear armor plate) first saw active frontline service in 1993, being used in combat in Operation Gothic Serpent (22 August 1993 to 13 October 1993), when Rangers of Task Force Ranger first arrived in Mogadishu, Somalia. There, it was used by the Rangers of B Company and Command and Control, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. The early RBA used only a front ballistic plate for protection from small arms (rifle) fire; this did not protect some of the Rangers in Somalia from serious injury or death, such as Sgt James Joyce, who was killed by a gunshot wound to his back.
