Armour

A flexible combat armour system including a group of bullet-resistant armour elements arranged in a tessellated array, wherein each armour element in said group includes a hard main body mounted on a base, wherein the base is configured to provide lateral constraint for side regions of the hard main body, and wherein the main body is of ceramic or ceramic-ceramic composite or ceramic-metal composite material,

• further wherein the main body exhibits one or more of:
• a hardness of at least 7.5 GPa (Hv0.5 750 Kg mm−2), for providing bullet-resistance, a hardness of at least 15 GPa (Hv0.5 1500 Kg mm−2), for providing bullet-resistance, an acoustic impedance of at least 25 MRayl, for providing bullet-resistance, an acoustic impedance of at least 35 MRayl, for providing bullet-resistance;
• further wherein each of said elements is movable relative to an adjacent element in the array, and a nested joint is provided between the adjacent elements, such that an armour elements nests with each adjacent element, and the nested joint is configured to permit rolling articulation between said elements,
• and further wherein the array defines an aperture between the group of armour elements, and a cover element is arranged to cover the aperture and a significant portion of the joint between the adjacent pairs of the tessellated elements when the upper surfaces of the elements are in register with one another,
• wherein the cover element is movable relative to each of said tessellated armour elements, and has a stem which extends through the aperture between the tessellated armour elements, and a back stop is connected to the stem to limit movement of the cover element relative to the array.