In relations to ballistic armor, soft plates refer to removable and replaceable pieces of soft ballistic fiber pads up to NIJ Level IIIa protection.
While most divisions in the US army still use the IBA body armor system, from 2020 new cohorts will be equipped with Modular Scalable Vests.
Depending on the branch and the regiment, the type of armor used will differ. In most cases for open direct engagement they will use Modular Scalable Vests, with different modules attached.