Every once in awhile we mention the term MRO which stands for Maintenance, Repair, and Operations. ADS Inc has published a great article on MRO, giving some background on what the topic entails as well as a couple of examples of projects they have undertaken. Check it out.
London Bridge Trading Company gets its name from London Bridge Road in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It can be a bit of a mouthful and has been referred to in industry as LBT for years. To help make it easier to find on the web, they have announced their new web domain; LBTInc.com.
LBT CEO Doug McDougal said, “LBT has been in business for 26 years, so it is natural for the company to mature over time. This domain name change exemplifies how our brand is ready for the future.†I have to say, that I personally have been a customer for 20 of those years.
LBT currently offers over 4,000 products and plans to further increase their catalog as the year progresses.
LBTInc.com
Gabe Suarez makes a case over on Warrior Talk on why every gun is specialized (kind of like how we feel on camo patterns). The more effective something is in one area, the less so in every other application. So, we end up with compromises. In camo, we can overcome this with a general pattern and some good old Soldierly application of local vegetation, scrim and paint. With weapons, it ain’t so easy. Gabe is throwing a couple of concepts out there and it is worth a gander. Naturally, Gabe bases his argument on the Kalashnikov design. Even if you don’t agree with him, it is worth getting the dialogue going.
Read his story here.
The US subsidiary of the Australian gear company SORD (Special Operations Research & Development) has been around for awhile but it was more of a distributor. Now, all of that has changed with the launching of a production facility in Kentucky. SORD was originally founded by Australian Special Forces veterans and SORD USA is no different. In fact, you may have noticed some of the clothing and equipment being used by Jason of RedbackOne Training. It was manufactured by SORD and together they provide a single solution for both tactical equipment and training.
At the official opening of the 15,000 sq. ft. facility in Frankfort, Kentucky on March 16, Kentucky Governor, Steve Beshear, remarked that, “I’m pleased to welcome SORD KY to the Commonwealth as Frankfort’s newest corporate citizen.†“This new manufacturing, warehousing and distribution facility, the company’s first in the U.S., will have a positive economic impact. We’re pleased to partner with SORD in this effort to help bring dozens of new jobs to Frankfort.â€
There is a lot of good that can come of this. Aside from the creation of new jobs, SORD has already shown that they are an international player in the Soldier Systems market with their win in the Canadian Modular Fighting Rig. Having a US facility will allow them to compete for US contracts with Berry compliant products. Additionally, they will be able to work more closely with US units to produce specialized kit in much the same manner that the support the Australian military.
Products will initially be available in SORD Base Color (SBC), Black, Multicamâ„¢ and A-TACSâ„¢.
TenCate Protective Fabrics EMEA has announced that it has an initial order from the Italian manufacturer Aero Sekur S.p.A (Aprilia, Italy) for the delivery of enough of their Defender-M fabric to produce 600 uniforms for use in the Italian ‘Soldier of the Future’ program called Forza NEC (Network Enabled Capability). Aero Sekur is responsible for the clothing and NBC components of Forza NEC. Each kit includes two combat suits, one over-garment, three types of boots, one sniper poncho, one NBC protective suit, and an NBC mask and filter. This photo shows the NBC ensemble.
TenCate Protective Fabrics EMEA Marketing & Sales Director Ramon Overdijk commented to Reuters, “Fire-resistant TenCate Defender(TM) M proved to be the decisive factor during the wide-ranging selection by the Italian Ministry of Defence of a fabric that is both fire-resistant and comfortable, so lightweight. TenCate is able to provide the fabric in a variety of camouflage patterns or supply it in several solid colours. This makes the fabric versatile in its use for the protection of several branches of the armed forces, such as the army, special units, air force and navy.”
TenCate’s Defender-M is used in the US Army’s FR ACU as well as the USMC’s FROG ensemble.
Thanks to Tactical Distributors for providing a pair of Rocky C4 Trainers as a giveaway to a lucky SSD reader. Lied, the winner was chosen at 1600 GMT today by random drawing and contacted via email. We want to thank everyone who entered. Some of you guys have got some big feet!
The C4 Trainer was released at SHOT Show and is currently in a very limited release. Tactical Distributors is one of the only places you can get them.
What do you get when you combine a kickass team of small arms design and manufacturing specialists with a love of motorcycles? You get Magpul Heavy, home of the the Ronin motorcycle. We wrote about the Ronin during SHOT Show 2010. The Ronin started life as a Buell 1125R sport bike (no longer in production) and then received the “Magpul” treatment.
While Ronin is an experiment, so to speak, we would certainly like to see Magpul continue to carry on with similar projects. Go see for yourself what we are talking about and let them know if you’d like one.
www.MagpulHeavy.com or on Facebook
782 Gear has released their new FR Baselayer series called Flash Lite. The designs feature their CMF (Comfort Map Fit) with off-shoulder seaming, Polartec® Power Dry® FR fabrics with anti-microbial protection, and cover-stitched hems and sleeves. What’s more, they look good.
The line includes several styles:
• FR Balaclava
• FR Skid Lid
• Short and Long Sleeve Crew
• Hybrid 1/4 Zip Long Sleeve
• BAC (Body Armor Compatible) 1/4 Zip
Polartec® Power Dry ®FR fabric meets the following standards:
• NFPA 70E HRC 1 and HRC 2
• ASTM 1506
• ANSI 107-2004
• ASTM D6413
• ISO 14116 (EN533)
• ISO 11612 (EN531)
Stop by www.782gear.com to learn more.
