The invention provides a composite, laminated armor panel (10) for absorbing and dissipating kinetic energy from projectiles (12), the panel (10) comprising a first outwardly-positioned layer (14) made of a hard material selected from a ceramic material and a metal having a Rockwell-C hardness of at least 27, an intermediate layer (16) softer than the first layer (14), made of a material selected from aluminium and metals having a Rockwell-C hardness of less than 27 and a third backing layer (18) of tough woven textile material, wherein the three layers (14,16,18) are laminated together and wrapped on at least four sides in a further tough woven textile material (20) which is bonded to the outer surfaces of the composite, laminated armor panel (10).