I literally live for irony. I can write and write and write all about the camo wars and the various services’ quest for a better camouflage but I just can’t force people to READ. Regardless of the topic, folks love news by headline and they form opinions around phrases designed to titillate rather than inform.
Most recently, I had a reader comment that the Army should look to the private sector to solve their camouflage woes. Classic. They have. The US Army Camouflage Improvement Effort is investigating families of camouflage patterns developed by industry. And, PEO Soldier and their scientific arm, The Natick Soldier Systems Center are embarking on the most extensive test and evaluation undertaking ever conducted. When this is over, the Army will truly be able to say that they have thoroughly considered the latest that industry has to offer.
Commercial finalists currently undergoing field trials include
ADS Inc as Prime, partnered with Guy Cramer
Brookwood Companies
Crye Precision
Kryptek
Is there any indication why finalists were awarded different dollar amount in the contract? Brookwood was 82k and Kryptek was 6.4M while the other two were listed in the 600k’s.
Each amount is an estimate for the use or ownership of the camouflage of each company. I have read that the 6.4M for Kryptek includes all rights and privileges . The Army would pay 6.4M once and never have to pay to use the patterns again. I understand the other company are giving a price quote for a number of uniforms or gear in their pattern and then a new contract would have to be signed for more.
Randy, not sure where you got your info but it is incorrect. For all of the companies, the cost is a one time payment in exchange for Government use of the patterns.
When you submitted your proposal you could put whatever amount you desired for amount. I know of one rejected proposal that was 1.3 mil. Nobody really had a yardstick to use on how much to charge so you figured your probable costs and threw a dart at the wall to determine profit.
Martin’s all over it. The different award amounts were determined as a ‘bid’ by the various vendors and are ceilings that could be awarded if their family of patterns is selected. Also included is a baseline price, also determined by the individual vendors for the fabric that is used in the field portion of the trials. Looking at the amounts, I’d hazard a guess that the $82k from Brookwood barely covers the grey good or unprinted fabrics needed for the field portion. In essence, that would mean that Brookwood would not be charging the Army to print the fabric and would be giving any winning patterns away if they chosen,
I think soldiers are just apprehensive because of what happened last time. They think an outside industry can do it better because of past track records.
We shall see.
As of two weeks ago, the army was actually testing 12 total patterns with soldiers from the 4th ID in and around carson before they had to halt evaluations and evacuate.
Three patterns (Arid, Transitional, Woodland) per four “families” (ADS/Cramer, Brookwood, Crye, Kryptek) equals twelve patterns.
ADS also has a fourth pattern for OCIE
it would be sweet if we could see that crye submission…
Yes, every rip off printer in China would like to see them as well.
You know, with as much hype as this has been getting, I am surprised that photoshopped approximations or guesses of Crye’s patterns have popped up on the internet….
But everybody knows that most knockoff stuff isn’t worth the fabric it’s printed on and few if any professional trigger pullers would buy knockoffs, only airsofters and re-enactors/costumers buy that stuff since there’s no reason for them to pay the premium for the quality of the real deal. Even still, I’m sure that there are plenty of hard-core airsofters who’d prefer the real deal because they use their gear often and hard enough that it’s worth their money to pay for the extra quality the real stuff provides them.
Wait… you actually expect people to read this? Why… if they read, they might learn stuff. You can’t honestly expect people to learn stuff. They might get edjumacated.