That seems pretty valuable:
City University of New York researchers developed a process of creating diamene, which is an ulta-light flexible material made up of sheets of graphene that becomes harder than a diamond when hit by, say, a bullet. When subject to an impact, diamene becomes temporarily impenetrable, the researchers report.
But consider that rifles that just about aim themselves are possible for shooters:
A new DARPA-funded electro-optical system will calculate the ballistics for him, telling him where to aim and ensuring a perfect shot, no matter the weather conditions.
I've also read about systems that don't fire the weapon even if the trigger is pulled until the weapon is actually pointing at the target (ah, here's an article--your'e welcome, I did 10 seconds of research for a blog post rather than rely on memory):
The rifle's scope features a sophisticated color graphics display. The shooter locks a laser on the target by pushing a small button by the trigger. It's like a video game. But here's where it's different: You pull the trigger but the gun decides when to shoot. It fires only when the weapon has been pointed in exactly the right place, taking into account dozens of variables, including wind, shake and distance to the target.
If the situation develops into a situation where body armor is extremely effective and light while infantry weapons are extremely accurate, what happens?
Well, the extremely accurate infantry weapons could go to larger exploding rounds with smaller magazines for single shots that can either blow through the thin armor or explode to take out the target with blast alone that either kills, wounds, or stuns the target.
Troops with protection are a relatively new thing. But we have long experience with the gun-armor race in tanks, which is pushing tank guns to go past the 120/125 range, requiring even larger tanks to handle the recoil. The infantry community should probably review the tank race for the broad lessons from that history.
UPDATE: The technology would be far harder to apply to guns used for air defense because planes are far faster (assuming anybody flies low for the mission in the future), but if it can work for anti-aircraft guns it would really cut down on the problem of shells that miss their target coming back down and inflicting damage on the city, base, or unit you are trying to defend from air attack.
