Body armor or
Body armour, or
personal armor/armour is protective clothing, designed to absorb and/or deflect slashing, bludgeoning and penetrating attacks by weapons. It was historically used to protect
military personnel, whereas today, it is also used to protect various types of
police (
riot police in particular), private citizens, private
security guards or
bodyguards. Today there are two main types: regular non-plated personal armor (used by the people mentioned above, except combat soldiers) and hard-plate reinforced personal armor, which is used by combat soldiers, police tactical units and hostage rescue teams.