Keeping up with the recent trend of manufacturers offering a grey color option for their gear, Beez Combat Systems now offers their entire product line in their own grey color option, called “Grey”. The photos above show the BALCS LVR armor carrier in Grey fitted with Blue Force Gear Urban Wolf Grey and HSGI Urban Grey Taco mag pouches. Due to grey’s tendency to mute colors adjacent to it, the different manufacturer’s greys blend together quite well.
National Molding is now offering Wolf Grey hardware under the Duraflex line. They partnered up with “…a certain Canadian company to make certain it was the real deal.” This comes in addition to the selection of military colors already available for the full line of Duraflex plastic hardware.
www.nationalmolding.com/Duraflex/parts/DUR-OEM-LIVE/home.shtml
We’ve had a few incredulous readers contact us with doubts that the Army would actually alter the OCP/MultiCam pattern on their own so we thought it best to share this blast from the past. We broke this story on March 25th, 2011.
MultiCam was developed by Crye Precision and is currently one of the most popular camouflage patterns on the market. It’s been adopted by numerous countries including the US, UK, and Australia. Consequently, we run across MultiCam knockoffs all of the time. Readers send them to us often asking if they are authentic or not. In fact, we received one yesterday that really caught our eye. Generally, copycat patterns are intended for the MilSim or consumer markets which are often more driven by price than performance. But this one was different. It was developed by the US Army and oddly enough, for much the same reasons. Intended as a cost savings measure and yet still be MultiCam compatible, we’re not too sure they have succeeded at either goal. Take a look, and you’ll see what we mean.
Yesterday, the Army Contracting Command issued a Request for Information (RFI) / Market Survey on behalf of Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment (PM-SCIE) and the US Army Natick Research, Development and Engineering Command, (NSRDEC) in Natick, MA for Flame Resistant and Non-Melting, Next-to-Skin Fabrics.
In particular, the wish “to identify domestic products, suppliers and manufacturers as potential sources of knitted fabrics suitable for use in three next-to-skin garment types. These garment categories include:
A. Base layer underwear
B. Base layer underwear capable of maintaining a snug fit when soft ballistic protection is added.
C. Flame resistant shirts capable of maintaining fit and positioning of integrated ballistic protection.
1. Sleeve and side panel fabric (must have capability to be printed in IR compliant camouflage patterns)
2. Torso fabric”
In addition to basic information on any company that submits, the Government also needs:
-A fact sheet or white paper, detailing properties of the submitted fabrics, technical parameters, manufacturing location, relevant company background/experience and documented test/analysis information that would indicate performance properties against the required physical properties listed above.
-Five yards of each submitted fabric.
-Pricing for each submitted fabric in dollars per linear yard.
The RFI goes on to state that, “the Government may purchase up to 100 yards from one or more respondents for prototype development. ”
Most important, companies must review this document for salient performance characteristics.
Perspective companies have until November 29th, 2013 to respond. Full details are at the FBO posting.
As always, I will remind SSD readers that this is NOT a solicitation but rather a means to gather information from industry on the current state of the art. I encourage participation as these exercises influence future requirements.
Thanks to our friends at Hill People Gear for showing us what Wolf Grey and Foliage Green look like together.
D3O is a British form that specializes in solutions for impact protection. Specifically, they developed shock absorbing materials as well as engineered applications for those materials. At AUSA they exhibited several products that are part of their Trauma Reduction Unrivaled Shock Technology line.
These knee pads incorporate an external hard shell and offer both comfort for wear as well as shock mitigation.
The TRUSt Helmet Pads utilize D3O’s new Decell material that exceeds the current ACH standard by 33%. It is a 7-piece design that will work with most helmets that accept Velcro-in pads. It comes packed in a mesh bag that is interestingly, intended for retail sales.
“THROUGH GORE’S PARTNERSHIP WITH RAVEN AEROSTAR, A WORLD CLASS MANUFACTURER, THE NEMESIS TURKEY SUITS WITH GORE MULTISPECTRAL CONCEALMENT TECHNOLOGIES OFFER A TRULY REVOLUTIONARY PROTECTION CAPABILITY FOR THOSE GOING INTO HARM’S WAY.”
– JOHN HOLCOMBE, W. L. GORE & ASSOCIATES CO-INVENTOR AND BUSINESS LEADER
Awhile back we told you that WL Gore was about more than just waterproof/breathable jackets. They design and manufacture (or license to others) a wide variety of technologies. In the defense sector alone they have been a constant source of innovation in the soft goods arena. The latest examples of this are the new GORE® Multispectral Concealment Technologies and the associated NEMESIS™ line of Garments, Personal Hides & Equipment Covers, Multispectral Signature Concealment from Raven Industries. Raven Aerostar has a long relationship with WL Gore and manufactured the initial ECWCS garments back in the mid-80s so it’s no surprise to see them introduce this new technology.
Commonly referred to as the Turkey Suit due to its resemblance to the suits worn by hunters. The NEMESIS™ garment seen above features a face fabric in a developmental, proprietary WL Gore camouflage pattern. Considering they have introduced commercial hunting patterns it should be no surprise that they also have military patterns.
But the underlying technology in this material is what’s important. Quite simply, garments made from GORE® Multispectral Concealment Technologies greatly reduce the range of detection from sophisticated multi-spectral (Visual/NIR/SWIR/MWIR/LWIR) sensors.
The NEMESIS Turkey Suit is available in a broad range of military camouflage textile patterns, including Digital Desert (compatible with AOR1 and desert MARPAT), Digital Woodland (compatible with AOR2 and woodland MARPAT), and Transitional (compatible with multi-terrain patterns).
Sizes available: Small/Medium or Large/Extra Large
The garment is available for authorized users on www.gsaadvantage.gov, just search for “turkey suit”.
