Our Supply Chain

Our mission is to bring affordable body armor to the public that is dependable and predictable. We accomplish this by pursuing partnerships, sources, raw materials and components that offer the best ballistic performance for every dollar spent. Our mission is to create the most well-informed community in the body armor industry.

When I was a police officer in Norfolk, Virginia - I realized that the price of body armor put it out of most people's financial reach.  I wanted to change that.  I founded Gilliam Technical Services (GTS) with the goal of providing high quality, dependable armor that is well-tested and affordable. This means that we establish sources - not based on geographical location... but because of quality specifications and resultant performance.  We go where there is dependability in raw materials and verify that suppliers have an established history of providing materials at or exceeding our requirements. In the future, any ceramic tiles that are utilized in NIJ Compliant Product List armor are independently tested at US-based labs for chemical composition and density. See our reports under the images or links on any relevant model product page(s).

Our GTS armor plates are made in the USA from globally sourced raw materials, including the USA. Our models have varying percentages of 100% USA sourced ingredients.

Our GTS armor plates are bonded in North Carolina, USA.  Our bonding process is unique in the industry and is an integral process in manufacturing a dependable, high-performance armor system.  We use 100% US-sourced, proprietary adhesives and a GTS-specific process to bond the ceramic to itself, attach strike face and wear face treatments and fuse the ceramic to our polyethylene and composite backing materials with a formula of time, heat and pressure. We use high quality vacuum systems that retain negative pressure throughout the heat-activated adhesive process - from initial start-up to room temperature cool-down.

Unfortunately, the adhesives are not covered by the Berry Amendment. So, the vast majority of armor companies claiming 100% Made in the USA are not using US-sourced adhesives! Just ask them.

Our "OA+" line of plates use high quality materials meeting our specs and outsourced assembly labor. This creates value for people that want basic armor with performance matching or exceeding the requirements of NIJ RF2 or RF3 (as applicable).  The OA+ armor is not assembled and bonded with our process, but does pass NIJ ballistic resistance standards as attested to by our NIJ certified lab test reports.  See the individual product pages or testing tab (main navigational menu) for details. Our OA+ armor line often exceeds the performance of well known domestic brands. Make sure you view the ceramic coverage diagram associated with the OA+ line.

For our American made armor, we obtain ceramic strike face materials in monolithic (single piece) and mosaic form (2" tiles).  Current countries of origin for manufactured ceramic strike face materials are: The USA, Italy and China. All three of these sources produce the finest ceramic in the world.

All of our strike face ceramic must meet our materials specifications - no matter where the powder is processed. For any armor listed on the NIJ Compliant Products List, we go an extra step: we send the armor to independent and certified US-based labs for chemical and density testing to validate product specs.  

Since we obtain high-performing global materials, we do not typically use the term "Made in America" without qualifying the statement. Although most companies simply state "made in the USA," The Federal Trade Commission has published guidance regarding this phrase and we want to comply with the FTC's "all or virtually all" standard (as well as substantial transformation).  As a result, we indicate that our ceramic armor plates are "Made in the USA with the World's Strongest Materials" or similar.  We achieve a transformation of raw materials into a working armor system through the use of our American-made vacuum systems, commercial ovens, adhesives and various tooling. 

I am not aware of any other company that is so transparent with their testing reports - all of which are conducted at NIJ-certified labs.  Ask your manufacturer for actual copies of the reports... over a period of time (consistency) and see which companies actually provide them. When you get the reports, compare them with ours.

How does this compare with what other armor companies are doing?

Many companies are continuing to indicate "100% Made in America" when their PE fiber originates in China. Some of the big names in UHMWPE supply have high-performing, low-BFD versions of PE materials with fiber originating in China. The FTC has promised to increase enforcement of the Made in USA labelling regulations. 

Most of the world's ceramic powder originates in Europe or Australia. Stating that source materials originate inside of the USA when they do not is a violation of FTC guidelines. We want to be as transparent as possible while protecting vital proprietary information.

Ultimately, professional ballistics testing proves viability, and we perform substantial testing both in the field and through NIJ-certified labs.  Our testing data can be found at GTS NIJ Testing Results or in our main navigation menu (website) and via our social media channels.

Two of the most notable deficiencies in current US domestic raw materials supply are: 1. The lack of high purity technical ceramics (especially tile arrays) greater than 99% at reasonable price points.  2. The lack of polyethylene material with resins and structures permitting consolidation under our production process.

For number 1: Most manufacturers use a lower purity level in their armor (90-95% to save on weight and cost while sacrificing performance.  We don't.

#2: We have the capability to consolidate our own UHMWPE backing materials with our processes.  This material must be ordered from select worldwide sources.  

Thank you for your record support and we always remain open to suggestions, new relationships and partnerships that would benefit all of us (including you).