Category X
Personal Protective Equipment
Paragraphs marked SME are Significant Military Equipment.
| Paragraph | Text |
|---|---|
| (a) | Personal protective equipment, as follows: |
| (1) | Body armor providing a protection level equal to or greater than NIJ RF3; |
| (2) | Personal protective clothing, equipment, or face paints specially designed to protect against or reduce detection by radar, IR, or other sensors at wavelengths greater than 900 nanometers; |
| (3) | -(4) [Reserved] |
| (5) | Integrated helmets, not specified in USML Category VIII(h)(15) or USML Category XII, incorporating optical sights or slewing devices, which include the ability to aim, launch, track, or manage munitions; |
| (6) | Helmets and helmet shells providing a protection level equal to or greater than NIJ RF3; |
| (7) | Goggles, spectacles, visors, vision blocks, canopies, or filters for optical sights or viewers, employing other than common broadband absorptive dyes or UV inhibitors as a means of protection (e.g., narrow band filters/dyes or broadband limiters/coatings with high visible transparency), having an optical density greater than 3, and that protect against: |
| (i) | Multiple visible (in-band) laser wavelengths; |
| (ii) | Thermal flashes associated with nuclear detonations; or |
| (8) | Developmental personal protective equipment and specially designed parts, components, accessories, and attachments therefor, developed for the U.S. Department of Defense via contract or other funding authorization. |
| (b) | Developmental exoskeletons funded by the U.S. Department of Defense via contract, or other funding authorization, dated after January 20, 2026; and specially designed parts, components, accessories, and attachments therefor; excluding those that are: |
| (1) | Enumerated elsewhere on the USML; |
| (2) | In production; |
| (3) | Documented as subject to the EAR via a commodity jurisdiction determination (see § 120.4 of this subchapter); or |
| (4) | Identified in the relevant DoD contract or other funding authorization as being developed for both civil and military applications. |
| (c) | [Reserved] |
| (d) | Parts, components, assemblies, accessories, attachments, and associated equipment for the personal protective equipment controlled in this category, as follows: |
| (1) | Ceramic or composite plates that provide protection equal to or greater than NIJ RF3; |
| (2) | Lenses, substrates, or filters “specially designed” for the articles covered in paragraph (a)(7) of this category; |
| (3) | Materials and coatings specially designed for the articles covered in paragraph (a)(7) of this category with optical density greater than 3, as follows: |
| (i) | Narrowband absorbing dyes; |
| (ii) | Broadband optical switches or limiters (i.e., nonlinear material, tunable or switchable agile filters, optical power limiters, near infrared interference based filters); or |
| (4) | Any component, part, accessory, attachment, equipment, or system that: SME |
| (i) | Is classified; |
| (ii) | Contains classified software directly related to defense articles in this subchapter or 600 series items subject to the EAR; or |
| (e) | Technical data (see § 120.33 of this subchapter) and defense services (see § 120.32 of this subchapter) directly related to the defense articles described in paragraphs (a) through (d) of this category. |
| (f) | -(w) [Reserved] |
| (x) | Commodities, software, and technical data subject to the EAR used in or with defense articles. |
Source: eCFR, version
2026-08-01, retrieved
2026-08-20T04:08:36+00:00.