Applied Orange sourced a few yards of TenCate Defender-M in both A-TACS AU and FG. They made two sample FR-UBAX and have been taking them around Europe to some very positive feedback.
This is a European made combat shirt. It features double bicep pockets; an outer flapped pocket as well as an inset zippered pocket.
Milliken has signed a licensing agreement with the Swiss firm SSZ Camouflage Technology for their multi-spectral camouflage technology. This Thermal Infrared suppression technology will soon see its way into Milliken fabrics. Look for additional details soon on SSD.
Gore Military showed a prototype reversible garment. It features symmetrical performance meaning, the laminate is printed on both sides and provides full camouflage and full waterproof breathable performance no matter which side is out. Reversible shell garments have been done before, but not with a single fabric.
They’ve done this through some creative garment design that includes common pockets with dual openings and patterned seam tape. This version is the soon to be replaced UCP on one side and OCP (MultiCam) on the other. With the Army poised to select a new family of camouflage patterns, this type of garment adds a great deal of versatility is a single jacket.
LBX Tactical has introduced three products for Pre-order. The Lock & Load Chest Rig (seen below), Stealth Backpack, and Transporter Pack for gaming consoles.
The Lock & Load Chest Rig features the Honor Camo pattern developed for Project Honor and EA’s Medal of Honor Warfighter video game. This split-front rig has padded shoulder straps and incorporates four dual M4 magazine pouches w/ hook and loop flap closure, two pouches for night vision goggles/5590 batteries, flaps with hook & loop closure, removable elastic closure and two additional utility/fragmentation grenade pouches with webbing and side release closure for added security.
LBX is accepting Pre-orders now for 1 December shipment.
If you’re at AUSA, make sure you visit ADS Inc in booth # 2413 and throw your business card in the bowl for a chance to win one of 10 CamelBak Urban Assault packs in the OCIE pattern of the US4CES family of camouflage.
Australian troops have been wearing MultiCam uniforms for a couple of years now. Concurrently, they’ve worked with Crye Precision to develop a distinctive Australian version of the MultiCam pattern as they had with the British military’s Multi Terrain Pattern.
According to a report on News.com.au, this new pattern is ready and will be fielded soon to Australian troops. Troops from the 7th Battalion (7RAR) along with members of the RAAF’s airfield Defence Guards will deploy in the next few weeks.
Defence Materiel Minister Jason Clare related that they have ordered an initial run of 3600 Operational Combat Uniforms worth $780,000. Additionally, they plan to order 5500 more next year from producer Pacific Brands WorkWear Group in West Footscray, Victoria from fabric milled by Bruck Textiles in Wangaratta.
Unfortunately, still no photos of the Australian MultiCam Pattern which I am told is all but indistinguishable from standard MultiCam.
As reader Phillip pointed out, this is the new AMP. When I first saw it awhile back I discounted it as I had expected the Australian version to be more distinguishable from its MultiCam base. But I checked with someone who would know and they said this looks correct as AMP.
It’s very promising to see the Army looking for Soldier and Small Unit Digital Ink Jet Printed Camouflage. The current Camouflage Improvement Effort is all about current state of the art wet printing and providing a static family of camouflage patterns that are within their own environmental zones of Woodland, Desert and Transitional, universal in nature. For example. When the Army selects a woodland pattern this fall, it will have to work in all green environments, which if you’ve spent any amount of time in different areas occupied by things green will know that they can be vastly different.
The real golden ring in this camo game is to be able to dynamically blend in with the background as you move around. Short of that you have two schools of thought; it’s either universal patterns or to be able to rapidly develop and produce into finished goods camouflage patterns for specific environments. The former is less expensive but easier to deal with logistically and operationally, the latter is expensive and difficult to manage.
This is where this contract award comes in. The US Army has awarded Rothtec Engraving Corp $1,334,156.00 to “develop a new highly innovative technology for rapidly designing and printing new and existing camouflage patterns with infrared reflective capability onto military textiles.”
We’ve written about HyperStealth Biotechnology Corp’s Quantum Stealth program as have many in the media. And, we’ve seen the actual material in use. We’ve also respected Hyperstealth’s IP rights by not divulging details about the technology.
They’ve taken a lot of heat for providing mock up photos (that the press asked for) like the one above and have published a response to those criticisms as well as providing some history on the project. It’s definitely worth the read.
One thing I really like about the article is that they provide some photos of their SmartCamo product which is a very promising technology for variable color camouflage.
www.hyperstealth.com/Quantum-Stealth
