Integrate data for who? I feel the common footsoldier is not the aim here, this is just more metrics for the comms to use and if that.
My scepticism lies in the fact that bulletproof vests, widely used across different countries, was not an invention of the overfunded military-industrial complex, but an ex marine who hacked it together in the back of his garage with a rusty fork.
That's not true. Modern body armor was available in Vietnam [1], and was the result of an ARPA research program. It was expensive and rarely issued though until later, but the technology (boron-carbide plates) is similar to what is used today. You're thinking of Richard Davis, the inventor of the police-issued Kevlar vest. He invented it in the mid 1970s, after getting in a gunfight while working as a pizza delivery driver.
