Combat Body Armour — Human Factors & Ergonomic Review

Client: Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) / Australian Army
Program: LAND 125 Soldier Enhancement Project
Period: 2007
Focus: Human factors, ergonomics and literature review

The Australian Army’s LAND 125 Soldier Enhancement Project was a multi-phased developmental program intended to optimise the capabilities of soldiers undertaking dismounted close combat, at both individual and section level, including the linkages to the wider combat unit.

As part of Phase 3 of the program, Defence was considering enhancements to the close-combat capability across command, control and communications, lethality and survivability. The broader objective was to improve the combat soldier’s ability to operate effectively on the future battlefield — including the ability to see, hear, move, react and engage — while also improving training effectiveness, information exchange, sustainability and mobility.

In 2007, IGOR worked with DSTO to undertake a literature review examining the human factors and ergonomic issues relevant to the proposed combat body armour capability. The review brought together existing research and evidence to identify factors that could affect soldiers’ physical interaction with the equipment and their ability to perform effectively while wearing and operating it.

The work provided an evidence base for considering the human implications of equipment design within the wider Soldier Enhancement program. Rather than treating body armour simply as a piece of protective equipment, IGOR examined it in the context of the soldier as the user of a complex combat system — where protection, mobility, physical interaction with equipment and operational performance must work together.

The project demonstrated IGOR’s ability to translate a broad body of human-factors and ergonomic evidence into practical considerations for military capability development, helping Defence understand where equipment design could support or constrain the performance of the individual soldier.

IGOR’s contribution: IGOR applied human-factors and ergonomic analysis to the design of individual combat equipment, providing an evidence-based assessment of how equipment could affect soldier performance within the wider requirements of future dismounted combat.