Adept Armor announced two rifle plates on September 17, 2026, splitting its high-threat offerings between minimum weight and a lower purchase price. The new Emperor plate is a standalone, multi-curve model that weighs 4.55 pounds in the medium 10-by-12-inch size and costs $1,480 per plate. The second-generation Archon is also a standalone, multi-curve 10-by-12-inch plate, but weighs 5.2 pounds and is listed at $588. Those specifications put a 1.3-pound difference between front-and-back pairs, before the carrier and other equipment are added.
Emperor cuts weight at a four-figure price
Emperor is 1.01 inches thick and uses what Adept describes as a proprietary, sintered titanium-modified boron-carbide strike face. The company says ceramic coverage extends across the plate footprint and that no soft-armor backer is required for its stated protection. Its published size range includes a 9-by-11.2-inch small plate at 4.05 pounds, the 10-by-12-inch medium at 4.55 pounds, and a 10.5-by-13.25-inch large/extra-large plate at 5.8 pounds. All three are described as multi-curve plates. The product page currently labels Emperor available and accepts orders.
Adept bases Emperor's Level IV and RF3 description on an independent Energetic Test Labs result from March 2026. According to the product page, the test plate defeated a .30-06 M2 AP projectile at 2,914 feet per second in a standalone configuration, with 22.83 millimeters of measured backface deformation. The listed NIJ RF3 reference velocity is 2,880 feet per second. That is a specific test result, not an NIJ certification: Adept expressly says Emperor is not presently listed as an NIJ Compliance Testing Program model.
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The company's stated threat list for Emperor also includes M193, M855, M855A1, 7.62-by-39-millimeter mild-steel-core and BZ API ammunition, M80 Ball, M80A1, and 7.62-by-54-millimeterR LPS. Adept does not position Emperor for the heaviest tungsten-core rifle threats, however. Its page directs buyers concerned with M993 or Swiss P AP to the heavier Colossus model. The practical distinction is that “Level IV” should not be read as a claim that one plate covers every armor-piercing rifle projectile.
Archon Gen 2 changes ceramic and drops 0.55 pound
The revised Archon replaces the first version's silicon-carbide and titanium-diboride strike-face architecture with Adept's Quatroid ceramic. The company describes Quatroid as a low-density, four-component B-C-Si-Ti material with B4C, SiC, and TiB2 as its principal crystalline phases. The finished plate combines that strike face with an ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene backer. Adept says the change reduced the advertised plate weight from 5.75 to 5.2 pounds, a reduction of 0.55 pound per plate, 1.1 pounds per pair, or about 9.6 percent, without increasing the roughly 1.05-inch thickness.
Two June 2026 Energetic Test Labs results are presented for current-generation Archon samples. One plate weighed 5.136 pounds and measured 1.047 inches; it stopped .30-06 M2 AP at 2,927 feet per second with 32.81 millimeters of backface deformation. A second weighed 5.148 pounds and measured 1.049 inches; it stopped the same projectile at 2,919 feet per second with 28.11 millimeters of deformation. Adept reports both outcomes as partial penetrations with no complete penetration, and both impact velocities exceeded the cited 2,880-feet-per-second RF3 reference velocity.
Adept markets Archon as “RF3+” because it claims a special-threat envelope beyond the M2 AP reference threat, including advanced intermediate-caliber ammunition. The company also makes clear that RF3+ is its own designation, not a separate NIJ protection level. Archon is not currently listed under the NIJ Compliance Testing Program either; Adept says certification to NIJ 0101.07 is planned and ongoing. Buyers comparing the two new plates are therefore comparing manufacturer specifications and disclosed independent tests, not two currently NIJ-listed models.
Fit, availability, and the unresolved certification step
Archon has full edge-to-edge ceramic coverage, integrated protective padding, and does not require soft armor behind it for the protection Adept states. Its page says the plate is in stock and ships within 48 hours. The 10-by-12-inch dimensions do not guarantee a match with every nominally compatible carrier, so Adept tells customers to check the carrier maker's plate-pocket dimensions before ordering. Emperor presents the same basic fit question across three sizes, with the large plate extending to 10.5 by 13.25 inches.
The immediate choice is unusually concrete: Emperor removes about 0.65 pound per plate relative to Archon but adds roughly $892 to the current per-plate price. Archon trades that weight savings for a lower cost and a broader manufacturer-stated special-threat envelope. What remains unresolved is the result and timing of Archon's planned NIJ 0101.07 certification, while no certification timeline is stated for Emperor. Until either model appears on the applicable NIJ compliant-products list, the published laboratory results and Adept's stated limitations are the records available for evaluating the claims.
About the Author
Nick Sawinyh - Nick Sawinyh is a father, husband, hobby farmer, and gun enthusiast from Kentucky. He founded GunsNation and writes most of what appears on this blog.
