The “Roma 90'' flak jacket has been issued to the Italian Army since the early '90s, from Italy's UNOSOM II days to seeing action during the NATO led SFOR and KFOR missions during the Yugoslav Wars. Designed in response to the changing face of warfare, this line of armor's seen continual improvements to support Italy’s peacekeeping operations abroad. These days flak vests are mostly being phased out as militaries switch over to the more prevalent plate carriers. However, if you are worried about artillery strikes and fragmentation the flak vest provides much more coverage and protection for a fraction of the weight (and price) of a modern plate carrier.
Just remember that it’s for costume use only with a bonus roll for maybe not getting absolutely “flaked” by an airstrike…
While at a glance the Italian “Roma 90” flak jacket is just a slightly more pasta centric version of the PASGT vest, it has some significant improvements over the PASGT. The two hard sewn elastic mag pouches fit two STANAGs or one AK mag, in addition to the two grenade pockets on either side. Instead of exposed elastic like the venerable PASGT the Roma has its elastic encased in the same nylon material that covers the rest of the vest. Plus it comes in at a surprisingly lightweight 5.2 lbs overall.
In our (un)professional testing, we've found our sample stopped .22 and 9mm FMJ, which would be around NIJ level IIA. Of course, this jacket is strictly for costume purposes only, and we can only recommend the flak jacket for LARPing purposes only :)
Features
Sizing
Our batch are all approximately US Medium/Large sizing, but with the elastic sizing on the side could fit up to an XL, or down to a Small.
Condition
Flak Jackets are in excellent condition, with no signs of wear.
Italian "Roma 90" Flak Jacket
This is my second one of these. Fantastic value. Looks like M81 but a little darker. Came with some free euros
Good stuff what can I say. Though if your a larger lad like myself, the armor with have a visible gap where the front and back panels meet on either side of your body. Otherwise excellent!
It smelled like Italian ass when it showed up so I soaked the fucker in Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap in my bathtub. Now it smells like Italian ass and Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap.
I honestly much prefer this to most other Flak jackets. It's a lil wide on the sides but thats fine. It looks good enough for an M81 kit, a lil glossy but some dirt n larping will fix that up.
A bit big for me but looks cool as hell
