HP57 body armor

The HP57 body armor was a set of personal combat armor commonly used by special forces operators in the mid-22nd century, produced from 2136 to 2173. It was designed and manufactured by Hephaestus Industries, who supplied the United Nations Colonial Peacekeeping Force, and later the United Nations Space Command, with the combat armor during the Interplanetary Wars. Starting in 2158, Pflager Defense Manufacturing, a German corporation sympathetic to the Friedens, began manufacturing a similar, but lower quality version of the armor to be sold exclusively to the terrorist organization. After the conflict, the armor was manufactured for a few more years, but quickly fell out of favor due to the onset of the cheaper and better designed Mark I ODST armor. It would later become a favorite for mercenaries and pirates on the black market.