In conjunction with Force 1 Decon, Phokus Research Group has introduced an innovative medical kit that puts your gear where you’ll always have it with you, in your plate carrier.
We’ve mentioned Phokus before. They were founded in 2008 as a means to ethically help entrepreneurial military personnel develop innovative warfighting solutions. For example, they developed the Phokus Aid as well as several other items. The Low Profile Medical Kit is their latest project.
The concept came from a SOF Medic who had experience operating in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He had come across a serious problem with the existing medical kits (blow-out kit) design. Generally, troops carry them in their trouser cargo pocket or day pack. During a fire-fight or IED blast the core of an operator is “protected†by his ballistic vest and/or armored plates. Unfortunately, the life-saving gear necessary to treat an operator’s wounds are potentially exposed to ballistic damage or blast fragmentation and all too often rendered useless.
Comprised of the same materials that make up a standard SOF blow-out kit, the Medic asked, what if they could devise a medical kit that is placed behind an operator’s ballistic plates to protect the contents against blast and frag damage. They took the idea to Force 1 Decon and the result is the Low Profile Medical Kit.
– Compact, vacuum sealed blow-out kit that is the same surface size as the government issued small/ medium Level 3+ ballistic plate. The kit is approximately .5†thick at the thickest point.
– It slides between the ballistic plate and an operator’s body in the ballistic plate pocket of most plate carriers.
– It incorporates an easy grab tear strip to quickly access kit’s medical contents.
– Contents of the kit can be customized by requesting unit/company as needed or they can send FORCE 1 DECON their own medical supplies which will be used to construct the blow-out kit.
The Low Profile Medical Kit is available for order from Force 1 Decon.
To keep up with their latest, visit their website www.phokusresearch.com, or follow them on Facebook.
Genius!
Brilliant! I love it! But I’m not seeing it on their website yet.
Outstanding idea. Very nice.
Follow-up question, how well would this work sandwiched between soft armor and a plate?
IMO, this is not really that great of an idea, though I applaud the creativity.
@SleepyDave, the reason it’s behind the plate is so the kit doesn’t get damaged by bullets/frag.
Anyway, so what if I’m shot in the leg or had an other extremity blown off? My buddy is supposed to take off my armor to get to my kit??
I think not.
A lot of armor carriers have external access to the plate pocket. I think it’s a pretty ingenious idea to put space to use that previously was basically useless. More room on the armor or plate carrier itself for more things that go boom.
Sleepy Dave- Check out Phokus’ Facebook page, however, all orders are through Force 1 Decon. Although snug, the med kit will fit in with plate and soft wrap.
Ken- All your buddy (or yourself if you’re concious) has to do is open up the velcro flap that secures the plate into your body armor, then pull out the med kit. In most instances a medic will remove body armor/ kit to check for additional injuries ASAP (when it’s safe) – part of secondary injury scan. Major extremity bleeding is controlled with a tourniquet which should always be accessable on the outside of an operators kit.
Very ingenious!
last place I want anything is between my plate and softarmor… IOTV does not have access from outside… If you need a blowout kit it should be outside and readily accessable… creative yes, but not such a good idea
I’m not thinking that the audience for this kit is the IOTV.
It will be interesting to see if this concept takes off and impacts future designs.
[…] if you count Mayflower’s Back Panel). We already covered the Low Profile Medical Kit from Phokus Research Group but there are a few other new models as […]
There was a typo in this article. The kits will actually be manufactured and distributed by Valkor Tactical, a sister company to Force 1 Decon. The kits are listed on their webpage with limited info, but pictures, pricing and info will be updated the first week of December.
http://www.valkortactical.com
Then Click Medical Kits