There's significant debate about how effective that anti-spall coating is, but generally it has to be pretty thick to have a shot at doing it, and then you have to add the anti-spall sleeve, and then the trauma pad underneath the plate as well - which means you have an even heavier plate setup that is also even more bulky than a good ceramic plate. And all of that also makes them almost as costly as a good set of ceramics.

If steel plates worked, I think the military would be issuing guys with them since they're cheaper and last longer. But everyone is issued ceramic or ceramic/UHMWPE combo products as their front, rear, and side body armor.

There's significant debate about how effective that anti-spall coating is, but generally it has to be pretty thick to have a shot at doing it, and then you have to add the anti-spall sleeve, and then the trauma pad underneath the plate as well - which means you have an even heavier plate setup that is also even more bulky than a good ceramic plate.

If steel plates worked, I think the military would be issuing guys with them since they're cheaper and last longer. But everyone is issued ceramic or ceramic/UHMWPE combo products as their front, rear, and side body armor.