(Hypothetical) West Germany v. Mujahideen circa 2009 CE

[Marcello]

Originally Posted by iCaMpWiThAWP

Well, i've seen somewhere some sort of body armor that can stop an AK-47 shot at close range,and a helmet made of the same material, i wonder if it is true,
as nobody seems to know it, but the video and the ak looked real,

Some clarifications. Body armor capable of withstanding AK-47 shots not only does exist but has been standard issue for each soldier in the iraqi/afghan theater for years.
The most common type has been the Interceptor body armor: a basic kevlar vest capable of stopping fragments and pistol shots upon which ceramic inserts capable of stopping 7.62x51mm NATO are applied.
What I did not know the last time we discussed this and I still do not know is in what condition one is left after being hit by an AK round. It would appear that typically one can get away with minor bruises and keep fighting but I have only found anedoctes about this, no statistical evidence.
Even if one can get away with an AK hit in the chest there are still several issues to consider:

1) The armor only covers a portion of the body weight/heat/mobility/etc issues usually forbide extending it further.
You get shot/hit in area with no cover or only a lower level of protection, you are still going to be killed of incapacitated.

2) The armor offer only a certain level of protection.
For example if I am not mistaken a PK machine gun (which is to say, a relatively common weapon in places like Iraq/Afghanistan), owing to the more powerful cartridge and longer barrel, has a good chance of piercing even the heaviest armored portion of the vest, at least with some types of ammunition.

3)Further the composite plates performance against repeated hits is worse than that of normal metal armor.

So the bottom line is that body armor is more something that gives an extra chance rather than something that turns a soldier into unstoppable robocop