SWANSBORO, North Carolina – High Speed Gear® has been producing some of the most versatile tactical pouches and platforms since the late 90s and has been a proven performer and continues to show tremendous popularity in the law enforcement and military markets worldwide. Our lengthy list of top tier operators includes U.S. and allied special forces, state and local tactical units, and hundreds of federal agencies.
High Speed Gear® is proud to release its new plate carrier systems, the Slick Plate Carrier (SPC) and Modular Plate Carrier (MPC)! These two new carriers are a natural progression of our versatile line of gear. Both feature plate pockets constructed from 500D Cordura®, interior mesh cushions to improve comfort and airflow, and HSGI® neoprene shoulder pads for stability and comfort. The SPC also utilizes two-inch Gripper Elastic side straps, uniquely enabling it to be paired with any of the pouches from our belt-mounted line. This makes it the perfect plate carrier for law enforcement needs. The MPC features a SureGrip® Padded Belt for further comfort and stability, as well as our new Chest Platform, both of which provide additional MOLLE for your customization. The MPC can be further customized and downgraded to better suit your tactical needs, while the SPC can be upgraded to an MPC with the addition of a SureGrip®, the Chest Platform, and the SureGrip® Adaptor Straps. Also new to our line are the Adjustable Side Plate Pockets, which allow E-SAPI side plates to be added to the MPC. These Side Plate Pockets can fit plates up to 6”x8”. The SPC, MPC, Chest Platform, Side Plate Pockets and Adaptor
Straps are all available now. Made 100% in the USA, Battle Proven Tactical Nylon Gear™.
Tight360 Tactical is the creation of a recently retired US Marine. Now, that he’s retired, he continues to work on his custom tactical gear website, full time student, full time RV and family man.
He began by offering his products on Etsy and as you can see by this example, he has a couple of really cool items. Definitely worth checking out.
FirstSpear shared this awesome story with us about an OEM project they are working on. Once you see the Wingman Harness on their site, we think you’ll be as impressed as we are.
We have been working with the good people at Wingman Multi-Sport to manufacture their Wingman Harness. It was originally designed for kids with mobility challenges like cerabl palsy as well as aid in general rehab therapy for wounded veterans, sports medicine, and even exercise and training.
The Wingman Multi-Sport is a patented revolutionary product designed to function in 3 different areas of human movement.
Therapy:
Physical therapists, adult and pediatric, trust the Wingman Multi-Sport to provide variable truncal support for their patients for gait training, treadmill training, seating support, hippotherapy, and assistance with general ambulation. It is also good for help with transitions. The design is comfortable for the patient and easier for the therapist. The design not only ensures the patient gets maximum benefit from the therapy, but allows the therapist to not fatigue as easily and be in as much control as they feel necessary on any given session. The units are adjustable and lightweight. G-tubes and ports can easily be avoided during the fitting process. This harness works well when assisting visually impaired clients as well.
High Intensity Exercise and Professional Level Sports Training:
Exercise enthusiasts, Professional and Olympic level trainers trust the Wingman Multi-Sport to provide a comfortable and adjustable harness for use in exercises such as speed and resistance training, sled training (does not pull the torso backward during training), weighted pull-ups, assisted push-ups, and sit ups with resistance. The Wingman is also an important part of a well-rounded balance training regimen.
Recreational Sports Training:
The Wingman Multi-Sport is ideally suited for teaching individual sports such as biking, skate boarding, roller skating, in-line skating, ice skating, hockey, and skiing. These sports require balance and control of torso and limbs together. The Wingman Multi-Sport allows the parent or coach, to be in a supportive role by having unobtrusive variable control of the torso, the major component of balance. This also allows the coach or adult to be in a position to reduce falls and injuries since they are supporting the trainee as needed. By being in control of the torso alone, the individual is allowed to work on control of the hips, legs and arms and have total head control. With this approach, the trainee, not the adult/coach, is in control of the sporting equipment. This enables the trainee to learn motor control faster and more efficiently than what typically happens when someone else has a hand on the bike or skate board, or the individual’s hands to keep them upright. For Hockey it allows students to learn to skate before they learn to rely on the stick and pads to keep them upright. It allows both the student and coach to be in control simultaneously.
Chris Spinelli from Wingman (founder/creator) talks about the product:
1. Why did you originally develop the Wingman Harness?
–My daughter was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. She needed a therapy device to use at home but I couldn’t find what she needed on the market so I made what she needed.
2. How did the relationship with FirstSpear begin? Why did you ultimately choose FirstSpear to manufacture the harness?
–The owner of Asymmetric Solutions recommended FirstSpear because we used their gear and we knew the quality was top notch. Met with Ronnie and toured the facility and I liked the fact that it was made in the USA by people who support the military after all more than 50% of our company is military or former military.
3. What is the future you want for the Wingman harness? Who will it help?
–The future is to hopefully get it approved as a prescription item so as many families in the USA that need one can get it even if they are poorer families. Special needs kids require a lot of equipment and the costs adds up quickly. If it becomes a prescribed medical device that cost is lower for those families. We would like this to help our wounded veterans with serious physical injuries who need additional balance or gait training and be able to do the training/rehabilitation at home. They are motivated individuals and would like to do some therapy at home and this product allows for that to be accomplished as well. We would like to see them in military rehab centers as well for the benefits it can provide.
We also see this as an item that helps do therapy for adults and children all across the world in underserved locations like Africa, India, Haiti, etc. We have had many requests to use the units in these location because the therapists are mostly women and they have no electricity or ability to have therapy clinics. This product is small, portable, and adjustable. Perfect for that environment. Plus it’s solidly made so will last a long time in that environment.
4. How will the Indiegogo campaign help?
–the campaign helps us get the FDA approval. It’s a costly process and ultimately our company needs the FDA approval to get it sold as a “medical device”. As part of that we plan on trying to cover any costs that FirstSpear might incur to get certified as a manufacturer of “medical devices” as per the FDA requirements for medical harnesses. They should be already there if making military gear but it’s a paperwork process and there are additional costs we need to cover
OC Tactical’s Kickass Grocery Bag (KGB) is made from 1000D Cordura with a layer of vinyl coated polyester at the bottom and taped seams. It is approximately 15″ x 15& x 7.5″ with 1.5″ wide handles that are long enough for use as a shoulder bag.
Available in MultiCam, Woodland and AOR 2 as well as Kryptek Highlander, Mandrake and Typhon.
When the Army initially launched the Soldier Protection System program in 2013, contracts for soldier systems items were falling off drastically and companies were more than happy to participate with the promise of developing a new, leap ahead system consisting of multiple components. It was exciting. SPS was touted as the future and industry wanted to be a part of it.
To give readers a frame of reference, here is a basic description of Soldier Protection System – Torso and Extremity Protection:
SPS-TEP is a PEO Soldier sponsored development program managed by LTC Kathy M. Brown, PM Soldier Protective Equipment. While it includes armored combat clothing (BCS), Blast Pelvic Protector (BPP), and new Load Distribution System (LDS), the heart of SPS TEP is the Modular Scalable Vest, one of four systems which integrates into the SPS TEP and consists of a low profile vest with four soft armor panels (one front, one back, and two side cummerbunds) covered in a camouflage cloth and hook and loop. Like current systems, soft armor panels are inserted into a tactical outer carrier that also accommodates hard armor protective inserts. The tactical outer carrier also contains two side plate pocket that will accommodate soft armor inserts. The outer carrier is made of a flame resistant outer cloth, webbings, hook/loop, polyethylene stiffener, a quad-release system, and several other non-ballistic materials.
There is also a Load Distribution System designed to offer the capability to redistribute the weight burden on the torso vest and load bearing while being carried horizontally, close to the body’s center of mass. The LDS is an integral part of the SPS TEP design with the LDS belt containing soft armor that provides fragmentation and handgun protection to the lower back and abdomen region. The LDS will provide Warfighters with the ability to mount additional equipment directly to the belt using the MOLLE retention system. The ruck integration component includes: a frame adapter, torso vest compatible shoulder straps, and an LDS belt adapter.
Unfortunately, the program faced an early misstep when the original solicitation was released, canceled and then a revised version reissued not long after. Industry trust was shook when elements of industry bids were integrated into this new requirement for all to see. What companies considered advantages over others in the process were now there for all to integrate into their proposals. Interegtating good ideas is something that should have happened earlier in the requirement process, during the Sources Sought phase, when industry is expected to help government refine their requirement by serving as a barometer and forming a vision of the state of the art. It’s not fair to write a requirement, open a solicitation and then close it, rewrite the requirement with elements of proposals and then resissue it with those new elements. But, this isn’t the first point of contention in the SPS TEP program. It’s an issue that has been constant throughout all components of the overarching program strategy. The big issue is that they were trying to save a buck on Personal Protective Equipment.
Across the board, within all SPS components and in spite of language in the 2014 and 2015 National Defense Authorizations Acts calling for the use of “Best Value” contracting, the solicitations have been issued under “Lowest Price, Techically Acceptable” criteria. This is an oversimplification, and I’m sure a contracting officer will comment, trying to justify the Army’s defiance of the Congressional language, but LPTA means that your body armor is assured to be made by the lowest bidder.
(Former PM SPIE COL Robert Mortlock (right) and current PM SPE LTC Kathy M. Brown (center) explains SPS-TEP to Vice Chief of Staff GEN Daniel B. Allyn (left) during a June 2015 visit to PEO Soldier.)
With SPS-TEP, the Army has taken LPTA to a new level. Despite having three vendor teams (Hawk, Point Blank and Safariland) with competitive systems that met all of the solictation’s requirements, PEO Soldier decided to enter a fourth, government owned solution cobbled together from different components. Naturally, that is what they selected. Of course, industry was disappointed. Why wouldn’t they be? They had spent millions of dollars to prepare their submissions. The heart of this winning government solution is a developmental USMC modular scalable vest that the Marines do not plan to field. After testing the vest, the Marines chose rather to purchase additional Plate Carriers.
These photos show Maj James Pelland, former team lead for Marine Corps Systems Command’s Individual Armor Team demonstrating the Modular Scalable Vest. Below, you can see him negotiating an obstacle course wearing the MSV. The bottom portion of the Load Distribution System is also visible in the photo, which allegedly still has some issues. Additionally, Maj Pelland doesn’t appear to be wearing any plates in the MSV.
On 21 July, 2015, Bethel Industries, Jersey City, New Jersey, (W91CRB-15-D-0019); Hawk Protection Inc., Pembroke Pines, Florida, (W91CRB-15-D-0020); and KDH Defense Systems Inc., Eden, North Carolina, (W91CRB-15-D-0021), were awarded a $49,000,000 shared firm-fixed-price contract for the Soldier Protection System modular vest by the US Army. These lowest bidders are manufacturing the Army’s design. It all sounds great for the bean counters. In fact, everyone would be impressed if what they were buying was what the Army said it actually needed at the outset of the program. Unfortunately, it would take a requirement change to do that, and that’s just what they did.
In spite of all of the other issues, this next bit is probably the most disheartening part of the entire affair. The “Army” system didn’t meet all of the requirements of the solicitation, so they changed them mid-program. There are several minor conundrums such as the Load Carrying Equipment not quite working in concert with the Marine Corps body armor vest, and an immature Load Distribution System, but the most dramatic of these changes is the decision to drop the requirement for female fit body armor. The MSV option the Army has selected, doesn’t feature a female fit at all.
(PFC Cheryl Rogers grins as 2LT Chelsea Adams helps her into the new Generation III Female Improved Outer Tactical Vest, Nov 28, 2013. The Soldiers, who are part of the 1st ABCT Female Engagement Team, Third Infantry Division, were preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.)
The Army, who not long ago drew praise from Congress for their multi-year effort to develop a female version of the Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV), decided to leave female Soldiers high and dry in the future by simply eliminating the requirement. They’ve put years into developing female body armor and now, they just toss it aside. To make matters worse, they are still under contract to work on improving female body armor fit with the firm, Body Lab.
Consider this; as of fiscal year 2014, women represent about 14 percent of the active Army, 23 percent of the Army Reserve and 16 percent of the Army National Guard as of fiscal year 2014. With the Army working to open additional positions in combat formations to women, this move can only be seen as a step backward.
Ultimately, SPS remains a developmental ‘science project’ with limited buys and actual system testing to commence after the new year. There is no promise of full type classification and issue across the force. However, while the Army was sure to have learned much from the program, and in particular from the commercial designs it evaluated, millions of dollars and countless hours were expended by both industry and government in pursuit of this requirement. It would be a pity if it turns out in further testing that the Army backed the wrong horse while trying to save a couple of bucks. Their actions regarding PPE contracts have certainly garnered the attention of those on the Hill who hold their purse strings. To make matters worse, they’ll probably have to explain why they failed to capitalize on their work to offer PPE for females and end up spending even more taxpayer money when several viable options were at their fingertips throughout the down select portion of this program. Conducting program after program where there is no return on investment for industry is starting to wear thin.
Shellback Tactical now has Banshee Plate Carriers in Black and Coyote in-stock and available for purchase. MultiCam and Ranger Green will be available in a few weeks.
In last week’s FirstSpear Friday Focus we have you a little taste of their new take on the traditional E&R Waist Bag. You may recall the photos of it attached directly to the Joker rig and that versatility is just one of the things that sets this E&R Waist Bag apart from the many “fanny packs” seen on the market.
For years, these simple waist packs have been worn slung just below body armor, in the front and filled with last ditch items like medical gear and SERE items. Even if the wearer cutaway all of the rest of his equipment, he’d still have his E&R bag. Some even added soft armor to protect their “package” from IED threats.
In addition to being worn via its integral waist strap, the E&R Waist Pack can be secured directly to your belt or load carrying rig with a 2-point QD buckle configuration.
Shock cord mounted on the top provides a quick stash point for a tourniquet, Eye Pro or other gear you need at hand.
There are four different zippered compartments as well as a removable top flap stiffener. Additionally, the E&R Waist Bag incorporates drainage for maritime ops or just crossing a river.
Available in Black, Coyote, Ranger Green, MultiCam and my favorite, two-tone Grey/Rust. Imagine that you could use the two-tone model even after ditching your gear in order to blend in with a civilian environment.
Carbon Tactics has started a Kickstarter campaign for Quicky, a quick-release magnetic tactical belt. Quicky features a buckle machined from 6061 T-6 aluminum. The buckle self latches and stays latched unless the user deliberately pinches and twists the buckle to disassemble it. The available straps include Biothane, a coated webbing product which looks like leather standard nylon webbing, and rigid tactical webbing.
