Remember those cool morale patches from ECHO NiNER we recently showed you? Well now you can win them. ECHO NiNER is trying to reach 500 Facebook fans by the end of March. If they reach their goal they will give away some patches.
To enter the giveaway, you simply have to “Like” their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/echoninerusa.
In a statement received by SSD from PEO Soldier spokeswoman Debra Dawson this morning, the Army has announced that they have withdrawn the unrevealed, so-called ‘Natick’ or Government developed family of patterns from the Camouflage Improvement Effort.
“On Jan. 10th, the Army announced that families of camouflage patterns from one government team and four commercial vendors were selected to proceed into the next step of evaluations. As part of a cost savings strategy and as a result of initial assessments, the government submission is being removed from further consideration as a replacement to the universal camouflage pattern. This decision has been made in light of the similarity between elements of the government and one industry submission and the higher score of the industry submission during the initial evaluation. We are excited about the four vendor patterns we are going forward with. We anticipate experiencing very positive results in our field trials and more advanced computer evaluations. We will continue to work closely with our industry partners and our government team, especially in terms of research, development and evaluation. The Army conducts extensive testing to ensure we provide Soldiers with the very best clothing and equipment.”
Good on the Army for reducing redundancies and further focusing the effort. This leaves the four industry finalists:
ADS Inc as Prime, partnered with Guy Cramer
Brookwood Companies
Crye Precision
Kryptek
Delta is the latest fabric in our ongoing bi-weekly series presented by Duro Textiles LLC focusing on the various materials they offer in the MultiCam camouflage pattern. MultiCam is a single camouflage pattern designed to help the wearer hide in varied environments, seasons, elevations, and light conditions. After a great deal of commercial success and adoption by elements of US Special Operations Forces, in 2010 MultiCam was selected for use by the US Army as its Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern (OCP).
Delta is a Light-Weight Soft-Shell 40 Denier nylon 2-way stretch laminated to a Wicking/Anti-Microbial Knit. Take a look at the photo to the left and it shows what the fabric looks like. You can see a small ripstop pattern. It is IR treated and has a soft hand making it ideal for soft shell jackets. Additionally, the face is laminated to a moisture wicking knit backer which is toward the wearer and allows for quick drying comfort. The face fabric is also NanoSphere® treated and weighs about 5 oz/yd².
Download a test report for Delta here.
Vertx chose Delta for their Smock and Gunfighter top. It makes both products great for three-season wear. In addition to the fabric, the Smock has several other features not found elsewhere.
– Innovative design with a unique pocket layout
– Mesh lined dual pull pit zips
– Mag pockets inside chest pockets
– Skirt mounted mag pockets
If you are interested in the Smock visit wearvertx.com.
Duro offers progressive pricing based on the number of yards ordered. For more information on this or any of the full line of MultiCam fabrics visit www.multicamfabric.com or email Galpen_Ben@DuroLink.com.
Courtesy of ‘Elite’ magazine is this list of Defense companies operating in the vicinity of Ft Bragg.
D3M – d3mllc.com
Global Services Corp – globalsvcscorp.com
Gryphon Group – gryphonsecurity.com
K2 Solutions – www.k2si.com
K3 Enterprises – k3-enterprises.com
MSA Paraclete Armor – paracletearmor.com
Military Wraps – militarywraps.com
Partnership for Defense Innovations – ncpdi.org
QRP Inc. Quick release pins, Leland – qrp-inc.com
SSU – strategicsolutionsunlimited.com
RLM Communications – rlm-communications.com
Technical Support Equipment – tseinc.com
The Logistics Co – tlc-inc.net
Porter Scientific – porterscientific.com
TigerSwan – tigerswan.com
US Logistics – us-l.com
Vet Pride Services – vetprideservices.com
Worldwide Language Resources – wwlr.com
National companies with a presence in Fayetteville
URS Federal Support Services – urscorp.com
CGI – cgi.com
NCI – nciinc.com
DHS Systems – drash.com
AAR Mobility Systems – aarcorp.com
Applied Research Associates – ara.com
American Systems – 2asc.com
Future Technologies, Inc – ftechi.com
Shee Aitká Inc
L-3 Communications – l-3com.com
BAE Systems – baesystems.com
Boeing – boeing.com
General Dynamics – gdit.com
Booz Allen Hamilton – boozallen.com
Johnson Controls Inc – johnsoncontrols.com
Sierra Nevada Corp – sncorp.com
CACI – caci.com
They overlooked a few others as well:
Grey Group Training – www.greygrouptraining.com
AWS – www.awsin.com
Archangel Armor – archangelarmor.net
XPX Armor & Equipment – xpxarmor.com
Combat Medical Systems – www.combatmedicalsystems.com
Read the full article at fbelitemag.com.
U.S. Army Photo by Staff Sgt. Gina Vaile-Nelson, 133rd MPAD
Please review this morning’s lead story from SSD…
And then read Matt Cox’s KitUp’s article from today…
Camo Update: Army Doing “Research†on Camouflage
Based on what both Matt and I heard, and related to you, do you feel that the Army’s Camouflage Improvement Effort is a priority?
We’ve mentioned the Persistent Close Air Support (PCAS) program in the past. Remember the Vuzix Next Generation Display Technology we wrote about last Spring? It’s a major enabling technology but there’s still a lot going on.
Raytheon is the prime for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) PCAS program which is intended to allow the joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) the ability to rapidly engage multiple, moving and simultaneous targets within his area of responsibility. Additionally, the system will be designed to reduce collateral damage and potential fratricide to friendly forces. What’s more, PCAS is taking a ‘system-of-systems’ approach demonstrating the ability to digitally task a CAS platform from the ground.
DARPA’s been working the software, man-machine interface and JTAC portions of the program hard. The missing piece has been the aircraft in the loop. Recently, Aurora Flight Sciences was chosen to convert an A-10 CAS platform into an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) which may well be the most ambitious element of the program. Despite the Air Force’s long-term goal of retiring the most successful CAS aircraft ever built, ground forces are one step closer to controlling their own CAS. We foresee a day where ground force commanders own purpose-built CAS platforms controlled by non-rated JTACs.
Gone are the days when you just throw a helmet on your head. Most are wearing accessories with/on their helmet such as NODs, earpro or a light (or two), some are using HEADS, others strobes, fewer still O2 masks, and so on. Nothing probably illustrates the concept more than this photo from Smith Optics Elite Division. We’ve had readers claim that this is ridiculous and that guys aren’t wearing this much on their helmets, but they are, and more.
We’ve also had some specific questions about what is mounted on this helmet. The Regulator Boogie Goggles from Smith integrate directly with the Ops-Core helmet’s Accessory Rail Connector. They’ll be available from Smith once the glasses are released.
For the cover, we went to Orion Design Group, the originator of the photo for some backstory and this is what they sent us…
Once again we were tapped on the shoulder by our industry affiliates, who have been getting inundated with info requests on our helmet cover, so we decided to step away from the range and the drawing board for a few minutes to update everyone out there in cyber space. We are proud to announce one of many collaboration design projects with FirstSpear, our version of First Spear’s “Hybrid Cover”. Now you might ask yourself WTF is a hybrid anyway? Well simply put, a hybrid is any piece of gear made out of two or more different textiles (fabrics) to support the functionality of the design. In this case 520E (tweave) and mesh. First Spear’s design team which is top shelf and is stacked with years of Industry and end user experience recognized that helmet covers made of NyCo just plain suck. They fit the helmet sloppy and wear out quickly, so FirstSpear built theirs from a 520E tweave which accomplishes a few things. First being that it’s a four way stretch it hugs the helmet and fits great. Second tweave is way more abrasion resistant than NyCo so it’ll last longer. Thirdly, because it’s DWR treated it will shed precipitation and dry out way faster if you spend some nights in the rain and snow. Since we work hand in hand with SOF units and we design our “Man Prey” line specifically for them we approached First Spear and added some end user features, specific printed Quiet Loop placement for IFF and flat elastic tie down points for cable routing along with an ANVS 6/9 NOD counter weight/battery pack pouch. These covers will be available for the Ops-Core FAST and Maritime cut helmets, in a variety of patterns including our own. To pre-order, or for any questions please send an email to brian@odg-usa.com. To all those who go in harms way thank you for service, and to our fans thanks for your patronage and patience the website will be up late spring……”CHOOSE YOUR PREY!”
