We have received a purchase order from the Finnish Defence Forces worth approx. 13 million eur for new M23 belt and pouch sets. We will also be manufacturing the textile parts for a 7 million eur procurement of M17 body armour. The body armour systems will be supplied to the FDF by Finnish body armour specialists C.P.E. Production Oy, for whom we have worked as subcontractors in the earlier procurements of the M17 system.
These projects will keep a considerable portion of our resources busy for a few years and may temporarily affect the availability of our commercial products. We are already working on expanding our production capacity to keep up with the growing demand.
The M23 belt and pouch set is designed for soldiers using M17 body armour and other PALS compatible load carrying equipment. The set includes a PALS compatible belt, two double magazine pouches, one single magazine pouch, four utility pouches, an empty magazine dump pouch and two hand grenade pouches. All pouches are made in Finnish M05 woodland camouflage and feature both PALS and belt attachment systems.
This project will have a domestic employment impact of ca. 50 person-years, with manufacturing being done at our facilities in Finland and Estonia. The main materials used, 500D and 1000D Cordura fabrics, webbing and buckles are made in the EU, with the majority of the webbing and a few other materials used being Finnish made. These are the same high-quality materials we use in the production of our commercial products.
This project is another natural step in our decades long commitment to the Finnish Defence Forces, for whom we have since the 1960’s designed and made, tents, backpacks, the M85 and M05 series of load carrying equipment and various other equipment. It should be noted that for us the Finnish Defence Forces have always been more than just a customer. In the end we design and manufacture gear for use by our friends, family and ourselves.