configured to contain ballistic material and may be made from any suitable material the ballistic material may include several layers of varying material for example the ballistic material may include plies 18 a and 26 a made from a first material and plies 22 a made from a second material for example the first material may be aramid and the second material may be polyethylene or vice versa but any suitable ballistic material may be used the plies 18 a 22 a and 26 a are grouped into layers 18 22 and 26 and laid adjacent to each other to form a ballistic unit 27 depending on the desired amount of protection to be supplied by the ballistic panel 10 different numbers of plies 18 a 22 a and 26 a are used to form the ballistic unit 27 each layer 18 22 and 26 has an inner surface 20 24 and 28 respectively that is positioned towards the user when worn to improve thermal comfort of a ballistic garment the ballistic unit 27 includes a phase change material phase change materials referred to herein are substances that change phase i e solid to liquid or liquid to solid within a temperature range around average skin temperature an exemplary phase change.