Weight of Combat Gear Is Taking Toll

[William F. Owen]

As someone already pointed out, the big key is to get rid of the weight of the hard armour somehow. The armour adds alot of weight and, usually, adds it in an uncomfortable and constricting way that only fatigues a soldier faster.

That's a policy choice. It's not a military one.
There is obviously one highly classified piece of data that informs the judgement as to why you "need" to wear hard armour.
Excepting that, you are back to an issue of coverage and protection standard. Reducing each leads to some fairly major weight savings.