As announced at this year’s IWA exhibition in Nuremberg, today UF PRO will be releasing their new and innovative Striker Stealth Smock to the international market. The UF PRO Striker Stealth Smock merges features of a combat jacket and a load bearing vest in a very unique way.
Ever since the paratroopers of WWII adopted the classic smock design it has been the trademark of elite users worldwide. However, with the increased use of chest rigs and plate carriers many have questioned whether such a design is still valid for the modern battlefield. To answer this, the Design Team at UF PRO have completely reinvented the concept with a unique twist.
The concept of the Stealth Smock was born out of a project with a German military unit which was in search of a jacket that would offer a full pocket functionality for their most essential gear on a short-term mission.
UF PRO came up with a design so that the jacket could carry a wide range of gear; the Stealth Smock can be loaded with as much as 12 – 15 kg, but in order to maintain user agility with a fully loaded jacket, they had to rethink the whole concept of a smock design.
A substantial part of the new Stealth Smock is the breathable load bearing system, which consists out of two modules; a waist belt which not only carries the weight but also fixes it onto the hip area, and a huge area of air/pac® inserts in the upper torso and back area which carries the remaining weight.
The special thing about the Stealth Smock pocket configuration is that it is modular. The integrated front MOLLE system allows the wearer to either attach his own or the new UF PRO pouches.
The Striker Stealth Smock can be equipped with the UF PRO Elbow pads, and benefits from the excellent Hood/Harness system which allows unhindered vision, air circulation and good hearing while wearing the hood.
MultiCam and PenCott GreenZone variants are created using a combination of 50% Nylon, 50% Cotton Ripstop, and 100% CORDURA fabric in the reinforced areas, whereas Flecktarn and Brown-Grey make use of the Polyester, Cotton Ripstop blend, and 100% CORDURA fabrics, all of the very highest quality and durability.
The unique load bearing system of the Striker Stealth Smock combined with the choice of first rate fabrics and some cutting-edge design ensures that even fully loaded the jacket does not get caught up around you whenever you make a move. It ergonomically distributes the weight over the whole torso and provides truly excellent levels of comfort and performance.
Find out more about the Striker Stealth Smock at ufpro.si/striker_stealth_smock
Tags: UF PRO
Seriously the nearest retailer is in Calgary!
I’m all for leaving the proverbial box, but this seems like a solution in search of a problem.
Nicely put, you took the words out of my mind
Well, its a specialist item that was created at the request of European special forces units who wanted the ability to carry a load of gear in their smocks. So….
The thing with working with customers is good companies ask customers what they want. Great companies ask customers which problem they’re trying to solve..
Kemp, did you come up with that line all by yourself or did you hear it at some retarded go team talk at work. You give the customer what they want, not what Kemp thinks they need. If you read the post you would know that the customer told them the problem they were having and what they wanted to fix it. UF Pro simply developed a design to fix the problem and give them what they wanted. That’s what great companies do.
And if people like Caleb Crye believed that we’d all still be wearing repurposed skateboarding knee pads and blowing the crotches out of our pants. But you believe what you like, mike-o.
Your Crye reference doesn’t make sense in this situation, good effort though. I already know the answer to this, but I’ll ask anyway. Someone from a government agency has never contacted Kemp with a solicitation to design and produce a fairly specific item to fit a fairly specific need have they?
If you answered yes you would know they usually give a list of requirements. If one of those requirements is the item needs to be a smock and you come up with something which isn’t then they simply eliminate your company from the list of potential suppliers and probably never call you again.
The end user for this design was not Kemp. So just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean this is not exactly what someone else wanted for a specific “problem” they were having.
No, i haven’t. But i’ve seen my share of clients eating crow after their “no really this is what we want” solution didn’t quite turn out to be what they wanted after all.
I wouldn’t be suprised if someone at the uf pro office looked at the design brief, looked around and went “uh, has anyone even tried to sell these guys an lbv?”, then went to work muttering something about another day, another dollar.
Do you build the clients request or solve their problem?
Sometimes it’s the same end result, but one of them assumes that the client knows everything and is always right, which isn’t true. If you’re lucky then they are the expert user, but experts users in my experience are often open to suggestions from expert designers/developers.
Kemp, this is the solution to a problem, which was strongly expressed by a very reputable unit of a NATO force. We are extremely proud that we , as a small manufacturer and the relatively new kid on the block, were invited by them to help solving their problem.
and what do you do when it gets warmer but you still need the gear? Am i missing something?
Well, that’s easy. You have to know how to use your equipment. Don’t wear a smock in warm weather. It’s for temperate and cooler zones
good thing temperatures never change unexpectedly.
Look smartass, in the depths of the Bavarian forest in fall or winter, you’re not going to suddenly have a balmy 70 degree day.
actually, you do. I’m from the area. Also, activity levels might change as well.
Someone has obviously never trained at Hohenfels.
You do the same thing you do when wearing a regular smock: you bang your head against something hard and ask yourself why you’re wearing a 70 year old design that’s not as breathable as a bdu top, not as weather resistant as a hardshell and not as good at carrying kit as an LBV..
LoL, true.
When i was doing my first SR patrol course i bought an SAS smock in NYCO because i thought all the pockets with canadian buttons looked so badass.
I wore it for a couple of exercises but i never had anything in the pockets, and i kept getting annoyed by the sleeve pockets that kept snagging on my pack whenever i was to take it on or off.
Nedless to say i stuck with bdu top for wear and hardshell in the pack from then on..
Still think they look cool tho..
Oh yeah don’t get me wrong, they look cool as balls.
I think the Vertx softshell smock was more or less born out of these issues: good breatheablility and fairly waterresistant
You un-zip the jacket just like you would with any other jacket and you need to cool off?
This doesn’t seem that complicated. It also has pit-zips.
Sorry, but the gear wouldn’t be tight against your body so it would just flop around?
My first thought, but I think there is some kind of tightening system (maybe the interior belt thingy?) to help with that.
This looks facinating, I love the cammo patern on it
What sort of AK Chassis is in the pictures?
The rifles are most likely by Arex: the AKB-15.
I’m wondering how the NYCO will hold up where the MOLLE is sewn in. I’m guessing they aren’t loading the pouches very heavy but any amount of looseness in the smock will amplify the forces on the webbing/garment contact points.
I remember Crye doing some MOLLE garments, but to my knowledge they haven’t for awhile. I wonder what feedback they got on those.
That’s a good question for feedback. I’ll find out about reinforcements.
You can see the reinforcements in this video when they show the inside of the smock. I really like this design:
https://youtu.be/JnzGl6WzVlg
The words “they haven’t for a while” tells you exactly what feedback they got on that.
Luke, the upper MOLLE strap, which is exposed to the highest mechanical stress is reinforced with a CORDURA fabric on the inside.
Interesting concept, but this looks like it would be lumpy and cumbersome. Why not just bring back webbing and belt kit?
Which is lumpy and cumbersome
This does have a belt. Watch this video at the 2:10 point:
https://youtu.be/JnzGl6WzVlg?t=2m10s
It has an internal belt system like a duty belt does. It’s pretty cool.
One of the major objectives was that it will not be lumpy. The integrated load bearing system and the cut of the smock make sure that it won’t dangle all around you, even when fully loaded and when highly mobile.
It’s funny how all the keyboard commandos come out when new gear is announced. No one cares about your opinions. If you don’t like the smock then don’t buy it.
Every professional has a toolbox full of tools to do their jobs. If you don’t like someone else’s tools, then move on. Be good at your job. If you are, then who cares how it gets done, or with what tool.
Well, as long as the comments are civil, I don’t really see the problem. Can people not discuss?
“no one care about your opinion” and yet…
I enjoy a polite, intellectual conversation about the merits of new design, if you don’t, then move on.
If everything just said “well X company made it, it must be good” or if “well X special group asked for it, it must be good” can you imagine the state of the market? Good products stand up to intense scrutiny, and are all the better for it.
I imagine a noticeable percentage of the commenters here have backgrounds in textiles or manufacturing, this isn’t the peanut gallery on just any site after all.
Any word on body armor, specifically is this is sized to go over a slick vest. Short mission doesn’t necessarily mean no one’s shooting back effectively and the point and fit of a smock would seem to favor wearing it over armor.
Forget the smock, who makes that ACR stock adapter. In fact, who makes that AK?
The funky looking AK is an AREX AKB15.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/12/14/potd-the-prototype-arex-akb15/
I’ve had an old sass kit carry smock for over 18 years loads of carry options easy to repair by any tailor with no faffing around with pouches, I think this is just a bit too much but I like the way they’re thinking about options for light CTR work,
This kind of reminds me of the old cloth vests that SASS used to do. I think Helium Whisper would be a much better attachment system though.
Still got one of those in the attic, with SLR magazine pouches.
Hey guys, here a couple of comments from the UF PRO development corner: A Smock is a great piece of equipment, if it supports agility and is comfortable to wear.
The integrated load bearing system, as well as the modular pouch system are designed to provide this wear comfort, functionality and agility, which brings the smock back again into the soldiers tool box.
Of course such a smock is designed for a certain type of missions in a certain environment. Its a special item, which surves a special purpose.
Kemp, I partly agree with your comments about requirements of organisations,, and you are absolutely correct with your point that they are sometimes far off what the real requirement is. Our product development is therefore driven by our own vision of what the real requirement of todays soldier is, when it comes to his BDU.
In this specific case though, I can assure you that the requirement is real and that the team is searching for a solution. So we are quite proud that we are invited to contribute with our ideas to the solution of this deficit.
When we presented the Stealth Smock to a wider public at this years IWA and Eurosatory shows, we received very positive feedback from active soldiers from all over Europe, which understood immediately the potential of it. But eventually the experience of soldiers in the field have to proove the operational value of the kit, and we are looking forward to that.