DENISON, TEXAS / AGILITYPR.NEWS / October 29, 2026 / 231-gram panel stops 9mm and fragments, works alone or behind a rifle plate, and floats more than three times its own weight.

Adept Armor, developer of next-generation armor materials and plates, today announced the BulletFoam™ Torso Pad, a 231-gram (0.51-pound) ballistic panel that stops handgun rounds and fragments. The 10-by-12-inch panel is the first product made from BulletFoam, a molded ballistic fiber-foam composite that stops projectiles through depth rather than dense layers of fiber. The Torso Pad is built as one panel with several jobs. It can be worn alone as lightweight armor, worn as blunt-impact padding, placed behind a rifle plate instead of a trauma pad, used to stage a plate carrier, carried in a bag, or worn on and near water for added buoyancy.

“A soldier already wears knee pads, elbow pads and a helmet liner, and almost none of it stops anything,” said Jake Ganor, founder and CEO of Adept Armor. “BulletFoam is light enough to change that. The Torso Pad is the first step: armor that weighs what padding weighs. The next step is making the padding they already wear into armor.”

Element U.S. Space & Defense in Belcamp, Maryland, tested the Torso Pad on July 8, 2026. A single panel stopped a 9mm 124-grain full metal jacket round at 1,330 feet per second and again at 1,430 feet per second on the same panel. As a free-standing panel, it recorded a 17-grain fragment-simulating projectile V50 of 1,385 feet per second (422 meters per second) under MIL-STD-662F.

That protection comes in a panel 10 by 12 inches and half an inch thick that weighs less than Apple’s flagship iPhone: at 231 grams, the Torso Pad is lighter than an iPhone 18 Pro Max (249 grams). Its low density has to be felt to be believed.

The Torso Pad is not rifle-rated. For rifle threats, Adept Armor suggests a hard plate with the Torso Pad behind it. The panel has been independently tested but is not an NIJ-listed model.

Six Ways to Use It:

1. Standalone Armor – In a plate carrier or concealable carrier, the panel provides handgun and fragment protection light enough to wear all day for low-profile, light-duty, and long-duration work.
2. Blunt Trauma Protection – The semi-rigid panel spreads and absorbs blunt impacts from batons, thrown objects, kicks, and falls, for riot control, corrections, mounted and equestrian work, and other high-contact duty.
3. Behind a Rifle Plate – It replaces the non-ballistic trauma pad with a second layer of armor that manages backface loading, improves fit, and adds its own handgun and fragment protection.
4. Carrier Staging Insert – Panels keep the carrier shaped, seated on the body, and protective. Rifle plates drop in when the threat level rises, with no re-rigging.
5. On and Near Water – Each panel provides about 0.8 kilograms (1.8 pounds) of net positive buoyancy in fresh water to offset heavy kit. It complements a life jacket but does not replace one.
6. Outside the Carrier – As a backpack, laptop sleeve, jacket, or travel-kit insert, it carries protection where armor is normally left behind.

“Most armor does one job. This panel does six. Wear it alone, behind a rifle plate, or as padding on a riot line or in the saddle. Keep it in your carrier until you need plates, or slip it into a bag. And it floats. All at 231 grams,” said Ganor.

Conventional soft armor compresses fiber into dense laminated layers. BulletFoam holds aramid and UHMWPE fiber inside a proprietary closed-cell foam structure at roughly one-quarter the density of water. It slows a projectile through the thickness of the panel rather than stopping it at a single plane.

The semi-rigid material holds its shape, spreads impact over a wider area, tolerates repeated hits, and floats. Adept filed a patent application for BulletFoam in August 2026. Knee, elbow, and helmet pads made from the material are planned to follow the Torso Pad.

Adept BulletFoam Torso Pad Specifications:

Weight: 231 g (0.51 lb.) per panel

Size: 10 × 12 in; 13 mm (0.51 in) thick; multi-curved

Areal Density: 2.99 kg/m² (0.61 lb./ft²)

Handgun: 9mm 124-gr FMJ stopped at 1,330 ft/s and again at 1,430 ft/s on the same panel (Element U.S. Space & Defense, July 2026)

Fragmentation: 17-grain FSP V50 of 1,385 ft/s (422 m/s), MIL-STD-662F, free-standing panel

Blunt Trauma: Semi-rigid foam spreads and absorbs blunt impacts (strikes, thrown objects, kicks, falls); suited to riot-control, corrections, and mounted duty

Independent Lab: Element U.S. Space & Defense, Belcamp, Maryland, USA; tested July 8, 2026

Buoyancy: About 0.8 kg (1.8 lb.) net positive buoyancy per panel in fresh water

Rifle Rating: None. For rifle threats, pair with a hard rifle plate.

Certification: Independently tested; not an NIJ-listed model.

Price: $179 single · $299 two-panel set · $549 four-panel set

Warranty: Seven years

Availability: Available now at ade.pt

For more information on Adept Armor, visit its website or follow along on Instagram or YouTube.