Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc (KBLB)

[SilkRoad]

With the elasticity of silk, whether it be DS or something else, I do not see it being used in bulletproof vests. That is why they use Kevlar. Kevlar does not stretch forever like DS probably does. I can see it used in other ballistic protection where it is not close to the body like a tent or fabric wall barrier, but not in a vest.

You have to stop the bullet before it passes through the body — not after. We do not yet know if they are trying to weave it with Kevlar, or layer it over or under, or what they are trying to do with it. Supposedly they were only supposed to test DS. Until someone explains to me and shows me video of DS or another spidersilk stopping a bullet better than Kevlar, I am not going to believe it will ever be better than a Kevlar vest.

I bought my first bulletproof vest for myself after watching the salesman of a company put on his vest, put a phone book in between his chest and the vest, and then get shot with a high-powered rifle. Until a spidersilk vest can stop a bullet like that, I don’t want to hear anymore about DS in vests especially after this genetic drift news. They are going to have to develop a spidersilk with higher strength and way less elasticity for it to even have a chance to improve upon existing bulletproof vests. Again, I think it has a place in other ballistic protection where it is not close to the body. I just do not see MS or DS in vests. So this is just R&D money, and maybe they can produce something in the lab that will work, but I don’t think a silk capable of being put in a vest is something we currently have.

Hence the reason they are working on a customized fiber for the Army. Will they be able to craft a fiber that can be woven into a fabric to stop a bullet? Have they? Can they? Did they? We do not know. But that is the goal. As far as I know, DS has never been fired at. Only stretched and pulled. If shootpacks ever get made, maybe then we’ll find out what this material can do or not do. Until then, I am skeptical as far as vests go but optimistic about other protective applications where there is space between the fabric and human body like a wall, tent, or panel of a vehicle, etc.