One of the major shortcomings of current issue load carrying systems is the lack of any radio pouch let a lone a decent one. If a pouch does come with your military radio at all, chances are good it was thrown in as an afterthought by the radio manufacturer. Does anybody remember this awful Black ballistic nylon pouches with the ALICE clips?
ATS Tactical has introduced their answer to the problem with the Tip Out Radio Pouch. The design was inspired by an 18E, specifically for use with the MBITR which has now seen widespread use among SOF and conventional forces alike, it does exactly what its name implies. Once mounted on your equipment, it “tips out” so that you can more easily manipulate the radio. Yet, it remains attached to your vest. The ITW hardware can be manipulated one-handed for ease of use.
Available in MultiCam, Coyote Brown, and Ranger Green. Like all ATS brand gear, it is made in the USA and covered by a lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects in materials and workmanship.
215 Gear has introduced a new Rigger’s Belt featuring a custom 215 Slide rather than the Cobra buckle found on their Ultimate Rigger’s Belt. It’s sewn on a 7 Class machine used for air items.
215 Gear establishes their belt sizing based on the inner circumference.
Medium fits 30”-35” waist
Large fits 35-40” waist
X-Large fits 40-45” waist
Raine Inc is expanding their product line to include tactical nylon. For example, this Modular Plate Carrier. It is a lightweight, scalable design.
The plate bags are available in Small/Medium and Large/XLarge. The cummerbund is attached in front via ITW G hooks and in the rear via T-handles which fit in between the PALS webbing making it easily replaced for size, reconfiguration or maintenance.
The plate bags are top loaders with a zippered closure and a rain flap. Height adjustment is at the rear of the bag.
Raine’s focus remains offering great gear at an affordable price. I’m quite pleased to see them evolve into new designs.
Look for the Modular Plate Carrier and other new items soon from www.raineinc.com
The Bulldog Equipment Speedball Bag is designed specifically for ammunition resupply.
Attributes –
-Accommodates (2) 60MM Mortar Cans, (6) M240 Ammo Cans or (8) .50 CAL Ammo Cans
-Won’t fall apart like many other bags
-Speedball Bag has been successfully dropped from a Black Hawk at 100 feet with NO DAMAGE to the bag
-Equipped with a polymer skid pad, allowing the bag to be dragged to a new location with the helicopter lanyard allowing for hands-free carry
-Made in the USA
-Lifetime Warranty
CTOMS just announced that they have been granted a US patent for their M-Harnes. The M-Harness is a class 2 harness built to ASTM Standards. The uniqueness of the system is that it allows the ‘riggers’ style belt to be worn in a pair of pants, or a padded MOLLE belt, to maintain the convenience of a quick release (Cobra) buckle, yet convert quickly into a sit harness without having the leg loops hard sewn to the belt and without compromising the integrity of the main belt in harness mode by capturing the quick release buckle. Even with the main buckle completely undone, in harness mode, it is still completely safe.
Multiple accessories are available for the M-Harness including armor inserts for the padding system as well as the Turtle’s Harness, which is a chest harness that incorporates into a MOLLE based armor/plate carrier without interfering with the attached pouches, and creates a second main tie in point, for vertical operations where packs or working dogs are worn on the back raising the center of gravity. CTOMS is also working on a number of other accessories and products to support their new Tactical Assault Climbing Programs and TRACE Micro Rope Systems.
The M-Harness is currently manufactured under license by CMC Rescue and sold worldwide by CTOMS and under license in the US by North American Rescue and The Peak Inc as well as other international distributors.
To learn more about the M-Harness and accessories at www.ctoms.ca.
The Tactical Java Retention System comes from Fight and Flight Tactical. The owner originally conceived the idea during a 2005 deployment to Iraq and hand stitched the prototype in order to stow his empty coffee cup on his IBA. He commercialized the concept as the MOLLE Coffee Cup Holder.
Recently he dusted off that early model and updated its features including the ability to accommodate a mug with handles. It will also now suit a wider variety of different mugs up to and including a 1 Qt Nalgene bottle. They’ve also added 2 side pouches for carrying your favorite instant blend, sweetener, creamer or drink mixes. Naturally, it’s MOLLE compatible and incorporates and insulated band that uses 1/8″ closed-cell foam to help keep the hots hot and the colds cold.
Made in USA! and available in a variety of colors and patterns. Get yours from www.fightandflight.com.
We first introduced you to the Bulldog Assistant Gunners Kit during SOFIC but now we have lots of details on the kit. It was designed specifically for employment of US issue Machine Guns under fire and includes:
-Lightweight Spare Barrel Bag for the M249 Saw, M240L, Mk46, Mk48
-Lightweight Spare Barrel Mat (Cooling area for the Spare Barrel)
-Custom designed Rapid Access Ammunition Pouch
The BAG Kit is an integrated design with the various components including the ammunition pouches that are designed to hold the prepackaged 7.62 , 100 round and 5.56, 200 rounds ammo boxes; Spare Barrel Bag, Spare Barrel Mat as well as a way to carry the Tripod all working together. All of the components are MOLLE (Modular Light weight Load carrying Equipment) compatible and can be adapted to various pack frames including ALICE and MOLLE.
The Spare Barrel Bag and Mat are 75% lighter than than current issue items (3.25 Lbs weight reduction) and offer improved accessibility and greater security regarding the tripod retention. Additionally, ammunition is readily accessible allowing for rapid reloading of the weapon system it supports as you can see in the video.
Currently the AG, AB and Gunner share the load across three men. With the BAG Kit the AG and Gunner will have the ability to carry all the necessary accessories to support the weapon system reducing the minimum number of personnel from 3 to 2 for employment of this weapon system.
One of the shortcomings with currently issued items is that the AG must be exposed to enemy fire for extended periods of time to gain access to needed weapon accessories before the weapon system is operational. The current Squad and Platoon machine gunners must carry a sling; spare barrel bag (which holds the spare barrel and tripod) as well as ammunition pouches of various sizes. The necessity of exchanging ammunition drums or rapidly linking the additional belts of ammunition to the weapon is paramount since there are only 50 rounds in the CAP. A 100 rd CAP exists but it interferes with the Tripod Mounting System and its use is currently being reviewed by the US Army.
Advantages of the AG BAG Kit include: Soldiers can rapidly reload the machine guns meaning more rounds down range while in contact with the enemy. Soldier movement in restrictive terrain is improved due to a better integration and distribution of weight of the weapon accessories and the AG BAG is designed specifically for use under fire.
Bulldog Equipment has integrated a new (Patent Pending) lighter weight system. Bulldog’s design is 75% lighter than current MOLLE. This was accomplished by using a single layer of 1″ webbing, removal of the plastic stiffener and the permanent mounting of a stamped metal one inch Tri Glide from ITW Nexus. This allows for the webbing to be locked in place preventing accessory movement. The BAG Kit ammunition pouches are designed around the dimensions of the 100 Round Card Board Ammo Box that the 7.62 ammo is supplied in. Therefore depending on your units preference you can choose between 100, 200 and 300 Round pouches which are integrated with a patented ammunition tension feed system. This bracket provides enough tension on the rounds to prevent rounds from falling from the pouch onto the ground regardless of its position, even if inverted. The tension however does not interfere with the feeding of rounds into the weapon. This (Patent Pending) Ammunition Pouch allows the ammunition to be rapidly accessed and linked to the ammunition in the CAP. The current issue CAP holds 50 rounds and it takes more than 20 seconds to link the ammunition together using current issue ammo bags. The Bulldog Ammo Bags allows for expedited and efficient ammunition access. Bulldog Equipment developed the current issue Spare Barrel Bag NSN 1005-01-5369646 in 2003, that Spare Barrel Bag weighs 4.5 Lbs. Bulldog’s Spare Barrel Bag generally has a life span of 3-5 years proving its design exceeds any durability requirement. With the knowledge learned from previous solutions we utilized the same materials for this new Spare Barrel Bag and Spare Barrel Mat. By changing the design they were able to save 3.25 Pounds with this new design. It weighs just 1.25 Pounds. Also the Spare Barrel Mat and Bag are two separate products. This allows replacement of individual components creating a cost savings for the military. The current issue spare barrel bag is not MOLLE compatible, extremely cumbersome as well as having a large foot print that makes carrying and deployment difficult. The ease of use and rapid access of BAG Kits Spare Barrel Bag and Spare Barrel Mat allow for rapid barrel change. A large number of machine guns are being serviced or rebuilt in theater due to damage caused by soldier failure to properly change the barrel.
Finally, the Tripod is secured in the Barrel Mat during movements by using 1 inch Fast Tacks from ITW Nexus mounted on the side of the Ammo Bags. The BAG Kit comes with a variety of spare hardware which will allow for personalized equipment placement and repair in the field of all plastic components.
This is a great time to obligate end of year funds toward these bags. To learn more contact www.bulldogequipment.us.
