Gypsy couldn’t believe she was up early on a Sunday. It was the only day of the week she could sleep in. She had stopped at McDonalds and picked up a sausage biscuit breakfast combo. She takes a sip of her coffee as she pulls into one of the empty parking spaces. No one was at the Gun range office yet, so she eats her breakfast and listen to her music. She brought three of the armor chest plates to test on the range today.

She and Pat had worked hard working out the formula needed to construct the chest plates. They had gone through several different formulas until they found the right ones. As she is sitting and eating her breakfast, a ratty rust color GMC pick-up truck pulls up next to her Mustang. She rolls her window down.

“I thought you said 8:00 a.m.?” Gypsy glances at her radio clock. It was 8:15.

“Had to stop and grab breakfast and gas Gypsy.” An older man with whiteness in his short brown hair gets out of the truck.

She just smiles as she gets out of her own car. She walks back to the back of her Mustang and pops the trunk of her car. Today she decided to wear her denim distress bib coveralls and a black short sleeve t-shirt. She had on a pair of her low heel brown ankle boots. She was going to need a cart from inside to bring the chest plates inside.

Frank looks over towards Gypsy “give me a few minutes to turn the alarm off.”

“Okay.” She looks down at the chest pieces and hopes the new formula they were made from, work.

The idea came from researchers down at North Carolina State using a special metal foam that they developed. The video she saw showed an M2 armor-piercing bullet smashing into the foam and destroying itself on impact. Only an 8-millimeter indentation on the back side of the armor was visible. She and Pat had addressed that issue with a special gel to absorb the kinetic energy.

A black SUV pulls up along with a white cargo van. Gypsy watches as the drivers get out.

“So, what did you bring us to destroy this time Gypsy?” Thomas looks over towards their favorite teenage scientist.

“I brought the new armor chest plates Pat and me constructed for you guys to shoot at today.” Gypsy knew Frank, Thomas and Harry were big time gun collectors and love to destroy things with their guns.

“Good! I brought the minigun, the Barret M107, Heckler & Koch G36C, and a few other “favorites.” Harry had a big ole smile on his face.

“God, what are you trying to do, start World War III?” Gypsy knew her friends were weird, but she didn’t know how gun happy they were.

“Hey, you wanted us to throw everything we have at those chest plates.” Thomas was opening the back of his SUV and bring out some of his weapons.

Frank finally comes back out of the store with several carts. He takes one over to Gypsy.

“Here you go Gypsy.” Frank brings a cart over for her to load the plates on.

“Thanks, Frank.” Gypsy loads all three chest plates onto the cart. They had some weight to them, but not enough that she couldn’t use the piece as a shield.

“Are we shooting inside or outside in the back range?” Gypsy looks towards Frank.

“Back range, we will be using a lot of weapons and some special ammo today.” Frank had everything planned out.

“Okay, I’ll go and get everything set-up.” Gypsy heads towards the back-rifle range and sets each breastplate up on the target support.

“Alright, let’s have some fun.” Frank shoots first using the M16 on full auto at the first chest plate.

The bullets just bounce off the chest plate like they were nothing. He reloads and tries the armor piercing bullets. They shatter against the armor like Gypsy hoped they would.

“Dam, Gypsy. Where did you get the formula to make armor that would shatter AP rounds?” Frank and the guys were impressed.

“A research doctor down at North Carolina State developed a new technique for making metal spongey. The bullet they used to test against
the material had been a 7.62 x 63 mm M2 armor-piercing round. It put a one-inch indentation on the face of the armor, before exploding and an 8mm bubble facing the wear. Now, Pat and I developed a kinetic absorbing gel that can absorb the kinetic energy of any bullet that hit the front plate. Also, the process the doctor developed protects the wear from radiation and neutron radiation as well. The person inside the armor will be protected from heat as well. That’s according to the Doctor that developed the process of the metal form.” Gypsy and Pat both liked the material that the metal form gave.

“Well, that’s a video I would like to see.” Frank was very impressed.

“Let’s see how it stands up against this tungsten and depleted uranium rounds.” Harry loads the minigun with the special rounds.

“Is that really necessary?” Gypsy was a little worried.

“It needs to be done, Gypsy. A few governments, including our own, are using these rounds. They haven’t been outlawed by The Geneva Conventions.” Harry had gotten his collection of the material from a black-market supplier.

“They might not have been outlawed, but you need to clean-up after using them or they will poison the soil.” Thomas had written a paper on the effects of uranium rounds for a weapons magazine company.

“Okay, let see how the armor stands up to the tungsten’s first.” Harry cut loose with the minigun.

The gun riddled the armor chest plate, but nothing got through the material. However, the back part that faces the wear, had bigger than normal welts. They were at 33mm, instead of the 8mm that normally occurred. It was still in the range DARPA gave them. The welts needed to stay below 44mm.

“Ouch! I feel sorry for whoever would be wearing this armor.” When all four of them went to investigate the armor.

“I agree. If you made the armor two-inch-thick, instead an inch thick, the rounds wouldn’t have even bothered them.” Harry could see how the minigun dug into the armor.

“The problem with making the armor two inches or even three inches thick. It cuts down on the movement of the exoskeleton the armor is mounted too.” Gypsy was looking at the armor.

“Maybe, if we increase the kinetic gel padding, it might absorb more of the kinetic energy.” Gypsy saw that the round hadn’t penetrated the material all the way.

“You ready to try the uranium rounds now?” Harry slaps his hands together and rubs them in excited motion.

“Yea let’s see what they will do to the armor.” Gypsy was trying to figure out how to stop or slow down a tungsten round.

Harry loads the minigun with the rounds and fire. The rounds tear into the armor but explode on impact as well. The gun keeps firing till empty.

They walk over to check the armor “be careful of the dust on the ground.”

The armor looked like crap, and a few rounds did dig into the material but hadn’t gone through at all. They checked the back part of the armor
and there were some huge welts. They measured up to 39mm.

“God, that would cause a person’s ribs to crack.” Thomas runs his hand over the welt.

“There’s nothing you can do to stop these rounds any less. They are used against trucks and such.” Harry knew how they used these rounds.

“I think the Kevlar suit we were thinking about might help. I’m going to have to show Pat and get his thoughts on the material.” Gypsy runs her hand over the welts and could imagine feeling them.

The guys help her remove what was left of the chest pieces. They carry them to her Mustang and put them in the trunk.

“So, who is going to be your test subject to wear the armor?” Frank was wondering because Gypsy and Patrick would be needed to adjust any flaws the suit had.

“We hadn’t thought about that. Do you have anyone in mind that wouldn’t mind being our test pilot?” Gypsy and Pat hadn’t gotten to the stage that they had a working prototype yet.

“I know a fellow. You might want to talk to him. He’s into new military development. Here’s his number.” Frank hands Gypsy one of his business cards with the guy's name and number written on the back of it.

“Thanks, Frank.” She slips the card into her pocket and grabs her car keys.

“Let me know how things turn out and when you want to test anything else.” Frank liked Gypsy and hopes that her, and her partner succeeds.

Gypsy heads home to get ready for the party Pat invited her too.