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Archive for November, 2011
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Sunday, November 20th, 2011The Idea Isn’t Necassarily New, But The Implementation Is – Molly Stix
Saturday, November 19th, 2011When National Molding sent us info on the Molly Stix earlier this week, my first thought was, “Yes, I see what you’ve done here.”
According to National Molding:
“Molly Stixs are easily woven between the webbing and with a simple flip of the top latch they are locked in place. Molly Stixs secure and stabilize the accessory onto the pack or armor and when in comes time to remove the item a quick flip of the locking tab or tug on the optional lanyard and the item if few in seconds. Two or more can be linked together with para-cord and released in unison”
The idea is simple, it’s just that nobody has done it yet, at least specifically for PALS. The first time I saw something like this on a tactical product was in the early 80s. The Lowe Alpine Systems LOCO pack had a removable rappelling harness waist belt. It was held in place on the pack with a tethered, rubber-coated aluminum bar that was inserted between webbing. Two pieces were on the pack and the third piece was the weight bearing portion of the waist belt strap. It worked and this will too.
Take This! Oh Yeah? Well, Take That!
Saturday, November 19th, 2011In 2009, KDH and Eagle Industries entered into a teaming agreement to bid on production of the USMC’s Improved Modular Tactical Vests and Plate Carriers. KDH was awarded contracts for production of both systems by the Marines. Initial production samples were made but some issues arose over the Government’s design and consequently costs rose. Eagle says that KDH couldn’t come to an agreement on pricing so, in September, Eagle Industries sued KDH alleging, “refusing to honor previously established prices, by offering Eagle only take-it-or-leave-it pricing, and by threatening to use entities other than Eagle to perform work encompassed by the Teaming Agreement.”
Naturally, KDH filed their own suit against Eagle. However, this one is a little tougher to follow. Had they just countersued they would have had to file in Missouri. But their suit alleges an entirely different set of circumstances. This means that the KDH suit was filed in North Carolina. You might think that KDH is a Pennsylvania company but you see, they moved to their current ISO 9001 facility in Eden, North Carolina from Johnstown, Pennsylvania in early 2010 after the passing of defense appropriations sugar daddy Rep John Murtha. At any rate, according to KDH, Eagle bought some armor to fulfill a contract, that they never paid for. They want their paper!
Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that these two suits, while focusing on two seemingly separate issues, are actually symptoms of a larger issue of corporate discord.
The defense budget is shrinking. There won’t be as many contracts in the future, as we have seen over the last 10 years, so expect to see more of these types of suits filed as companies begin to deal with the new reality. Things are getting tough. However, considering what lawyers cost, they both may well end up losing even more money on these lawsuits than they would have had they just sucked it up and made things happen.
Survival Straps Offering USAF Items
Saturday, November 19th, 2011Survival Straps has introduced a line of licensed US Air Force products. Items include several models of survival bracelets (including a ladies model), key fob, luggage tag, and neck ID lanyard. As with all Survival Straps bracelets, you can choose the size and configure the type of buckle. Additionally, all of the USAF licensed products feature an ID tag emblazoned with the new Air Force logo.
Darrel Ralph’s Stellite Gunhammer Folder – Finished
Friday, November 18th, 2011
As we described yesterday, Darrel Ralph was wrapping up the prototype for a 4†Gunhammer and we showed some images of it “under constructionâ€. Well, here is the finished product. Darrel says the frame took about 40 hours of back and forth machining time plus a little over 150 hours of development. “The blade grinding was very intense,†Darrel said. “We have six process that had to be followed just to grind the blade.â€
As for the ‘unobtainium’ tungsten steel we mentioned before, Darrel said, “Chad had to build a vacuum chamber in a twenty-two hundred degree forging furnace to weld the materials in the blade and frame together so that the atmosphere is oxygen free. That’s why this steel is so hard to get hold of.â€
As for the cost of this one-off Stellite 6K core, 4†Gunhammer with 3D carved lightning strike carbon fiber and copper inlay frame? It was more than your average E6 makes in a month, for obvious reasons. As much as we like it, we’ll be waiting for the more mundane version to come out. Check out the knives made for us normal mortals on his website. They’re quality work and worth the investment, whether you’re carrying one or admiring it in a case.
-David Reeder
Hyperstealth Signs European Exclusives with Elba-Onyx Enterprises
Friday, November 18th, 2011Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp announced today a series of exclusive camouflage pattern licenses for their SOPAT (Special Operations Pattern), SpecAm and CAMOPAT patterns and also the Passive Negative Ion Generator to Elba-Onyx Enterprises in European markets.
Hyperstealth President Guy Cramer said in a press release, “These licenses will allow our product a foothold in Europe and NATO with a proven company that knows how the system works over there. HyperStealth has worked with over 40 countries but those countries in Europe have been very difficult for us to penetrate to this stage. This deal will also help employ many Europeans as the products will all be assembled in Europe. Europe is also very open to the Passive Negative Ion Generator where negative ion devices are widely used and the benefits are understood by the general public, whereas the North American understanding is limited or almost non-existent.”
Negotiations have been under way since August of this year and Elba-Onyx has already arranged for a NATO certified European company to assemble these uniforms with the capacity to produce 1,500 uniforms per day.
Visit www.hyperstealth.com to read the whole story.
DR Publishes More Info on ODG’s ODTDM-2
Friday, November 18th, 2011Defense Review has published some additional information on Orion Design Group’s new ODTDM-2 (Orion Designs Tradition Digital Mimicry-2) pattern. You’ve seen a couple of teasers. For example, it is featured on the cover of SureFire’s “Combat Tactics” magazine and OTTE Gear offered us a picture of their water bottle sitting atop a swatch of the pattern.
Check it out…
US Army Camouflage Improvement Effort Update
Friday, November 18th, 2011According to PEO Soldier spokesperson Ms Debra Dawson, the current planned award date for 15 December 2011, a full three months after the initially planned date of 15 September. The latest word on the street is that the Army will most likely down select to four commercial and one Government families of patterns rather than the three and two originally planned.
After the camo industry day we published a comprehensive explanation of the Army’s plan and methodology. If you are unfamiliar with the plan we suggest you review that article. Naturally, the original, aggressive timeline has slipped significantly.
We will continue to update you as we receive additional information. Thanks to PEO Soldier for their assistance.
