Abstract: The invention provides a composite armor plate for absorbing and dissipating kinetic energy from high velocity, armor-piercing projectiles, the plate comprising a single internal layer of high density ceramic pellets which are directly bound and retained in plate form by a solidified material such that the pellets are bound in a plurality of adjacent rows, characterized in that the pellets have an Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 content of at least 93% and a specific gravity of at least 2.5, the majority of the pellets each have at least one axis of at least 12 mm length and are bound by the solidified material in a single internal layer of adjacent rows, wherein a majority of each of the pellets is in direct contact with at least 4 adjacent pellets, and the solidified material and the plate are elastic.