I appreciate any advice that anyone can offer?

I need to purchase some armor plates for a friend serving in Ukraine that currently does not have any armor.

I personally own Agilite gear but they are sold out and I need to source something relatively soon.   A quick google search yields so many different manufacturers.

Is there a ranking of the better companies/manufacturers of armor plates? or at least some notation on which companies to avoid?

Thanks for any help.

I don't think you can have any armor that is American made shipped out of the country. You may need to buy a set from Europe or China and have it shipped direct. I may be wrong?

I assume hand carry is also an export, but I wonder if people actually get stopped in the airport?

I am suspicious of anyone claiming that story, as if they are truly in Ukraine they should be checking with Ukrainians. With the collective world dumping cash and equipment into that place I find it hard to believe some individual there needs a singular American citizen to ship them an armor plate.

Shipping rifle armor overseas is not allowed without State Department approval (an export license) as it's a controlled item per ITAR.

Even trying to bring it yourself would not be allowed.

You could try buying something from Alibaba or Wish and having it shipped directly to them. It's obviously going to be a gamble as to whether or not it works, but there's really no better options.

Thank You for that bit of information. I was aware about NVDs etc but didn’t consider plates a possible restricted item.  

I have been traveling to Ukraine for over 20 years and have quite a few friends there and in laws as my wife is from Ukraine.

The guys I am trying to assist are in the territorial defense forces and their gear is extremely limited to fatigues and rifles.  Rightfully so the best gear goes to active combat troops.  

Europe does have quite a few suppliers but shipping into Ukraine is a no go for the shops I have spoken to as obviously they don’t want to fool with the lost in shipping etc etc risk.   Will have to resort to getting a human to ferry them from Poland or Czech.

Thanks for the information.  

First have him check in with his higher-ups about what gear may have already been sent over there. People all over the country are shipping over tactical gear, so I have to assume they've set up an office with a couple dudes to help sort through all the random stuff people are sending in. And I bet almost any plate money can buy has already been sent over by somebody.

We also just gave them 40 Billion dollars. So if they have US-made guided rocket artillery systems and drones, then there's almost certainly a few pallets of body armor over there for him.

The US has sent the equivalent of 2 decades their normal military budget in the last few months.  If your buddy's company/unit hasn't equipped him properly with the amount of shit just the US has sent over then he needs to give some serious thought to his life choices and what he's actually being used for.  Also important to note for you personally is that exporting body armor is heavily regulated under ITAR.