SOURCE Tactical Gear, an Israeli company that provides tactical protection and modular load-carry solutions, has announced that it has won the tender for female-specific ballistic vests for Italy’s national gendarmerie, the Carabinieri, the fourth branch of the Italian Armed Forces.
The order comes as more and more women are joining law enforcement and security forces around the world while the tactical gear they wear continues to be tailored for men – exposing women to potentially dangerous situations.
The announcement was made ahead of the company’s participation at Milipol in France.
Earlier in the week, eight Israeli companies were said to have been banned from the event because their participation “would pose a problem.” Shortly after the report by N12 News, France announced that all companies would attend the event scheduled for November 18-25.
SOURCE’s female-specific ballistic vests are a pioneering advance in officer safety. Developed through extensive R&D and collaboration with dozens of active-duty female officers, the vests are anatomically contoured to the chest, waist, hips, and shoulders. Features, such as Shooter’s Cut plates, pressed ballistic panels, and ongoing development of adaptive contouring eliminate fit gaps while ensuring full coverage, ventilation, and comfort.
A breakthrough in ballistic protection for women
The company carries out laboratory and field tests to test durability and make sure that there were no weak spots in the vest, Gal said.
According to a report on the SecurityWomen.Org website, there are 20,652 women serving in the Italian Armed Forces and Carabinieri in a variety of positions, including in combat roles.
The Carabinieri’s large-scale adoption of gender-specific protection highlights a broader worldwide trend toward, with additional police and military forces now fielding SOURCE’s innovative designs.
While relatively new, female-specific ballistic tactical protection is an increasingly vital area of defense technology. For decades, body armor was designed with the male body in mind, which meant women serving in police and military roles often having to wear equipment that did not fit properly.
This was not comfortable and reduced mobility; in some cases, fit-gaps compromised safety. The defining feature of female-specific ballistic vests is in their anatomical contouring where, instead of forcing a flat or generic fit, the vests are shaped to accommodate the chest, waist, hips, and shoulders of female officers. This design eliminates pressure points and coverage gaps, while also improving ventilation and comfort during long missions.
The push for female-specific solutions is to ensure that women receive the same level of protection and operational efficiency as their male counterparts when heading into dangerous operations.
Speaking to Defense and Tech by The Jerusalem Post, SOURCE Tactical Gear Marketing Manager Dovik Gal explained that the company has been working on female ballistic protection for several years after realizing that many militaries and police forces around the world, including Israel, didn’t have such solutions.
“We are always thinking about innovative solutions and the idea behind this was to provide women with full ballistic protection,” he said, explaining that female anatomy requires specific protection gear.
“The Carabinieri tender was specifically asking for female ballistic protection vests, not a general vest for men and women,” he said, as part of the “change in doctrine they are starting to adopt.”
Unlike the Italians, Israeli security forces do not yet have female-geared protection.
This is something Gal said must change. “We believe that it is crucial that they change how they think, and once they do it, we are here with the solution.”