Chalk it up to an internet April Fools prank, but the murmurs now circulating that the Army has canceled the Camouflage Improvement Effort solicitation are FALSE. The solicitation has NOT been canceled. We still expect the solicitation to be released, even if it is not today for some reason.
According to PEO Soldier, we should expect to see the Army Camouflage Improvement Effort Solicitation released sometime today. It had been delayed twice due to staffing issues. This is a project that is being briefed all the way up to the Secretary of the Army so there can be delays along the way due to scheduling conflicts. It’s to be expected. The original time line briefed at the Industry Day was very aggressive so it comes as no surprise to see some slip. Whether it is released today or not, don’t let these slight pauses lead you to believe that this thing has lost steam. You can be assured that, as soon as we have word it is out, we will let you know.
Back in early February we published a story about the deployment of three of the 25mm XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement Systems to Afghanistan for a Forward Area Operational Assessment. Word was that the weapons were performing well and the only real question was how to fund additional development of the system.
System developer ATK has announced today that they were awarded a 30 month, $65.8 Million contract for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development Phase by the US Army. EM&D is the next step toward full development and fielding for a program of record. The technology behind the XM25 is impressive. The system includes not only the basic weapon and ammunition but also target acquisition and fire control systems which integrate the thermal sight with direct-view optics, laser rangefinder, compass, fuze-setter, ballistic computer, laser pointer and illuminator.
“The XM25 provides the soldier on the ground a precision weapon to quickly and accurately engage targets behind cover or exposed targets, at ranges and accuracies not seen in today’s small arms,” said Bruce DeWitt, Vice President and General Manager of ATK’s Advanced Weapons Division. “A soldier using basic rifle marksmanship skills can effectively engage targets in less than five seconds while also reducing the chances for collateral damage.”
Interestingly, ATK is referring to the XM25 as the Individual Semi-Automatic Airburst System rather than the Counter Defilade Target Engagement System that we have seen in times past.
In addition to program lead ATK, the team also includes Heckler & Koch and L-3 Brashear.
Last year we first mentioned the US Army Anthropometric Survey or ANSUR II being conducted by US Army Natick Soldier System Center. The whole point of the survey is to collect key data pertaining to how our Soldiers are built. This will in turn affect patterning and size tariffing for uniforms and other sized equipment. Americans continue to get bigger. Current data comes from information collected in 1988 but was only derived from Active Army Soldiers whereas the information used for sizing dated from WWII when I joined the Army. Recently, the Natick team collected measurements from 750 Soldiers at Indiana’s Camp Atterbury who are some of the 12,000 Soldiers, including 1,000 aviators, to be scanned from FORSCOM, TRADOC, National Guard Bureau, and First Army demobilization sites. Since the Total Force is so key to operations it is vital that their statistical sample is included in the data.
The survey includes 94 measurements of the body as well as three 3-D scans. The scans are of the whole body, the head and face and a foot. In addition for use in developing equipment, the data will also be used to design vehicle and aircraft interiors.
Additional information can be found at nsrdec.natick.army.mil/ANSURII.
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.
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The Army is supposed to release the Solicitation today for the Camouflage Improvement Effort. Lots of folks have been leaning forward in their foxholes getting ready for it and we can’t wait to see what comes out of this. Hopefully, you will be seeing a post from us later today announcing the beginning of DoD’s most ambitious camo effort yet.
The Army announced that they have chosen BG Camille M. Nichols to serve as PEO Soldier. BG Nicholls is a former enlisted West Point graduate and will be the first female to serve in that post and will be replacing BG Peter Fuller later this year. Congratulations to BG Nichols who brings over 20 years of acquisition experience to the position including service as the first Commanding General of Expeditionary Contracting Command and later as Commanding General of Joint Contracting Command, U.S. Forces-Iraq.
We also wish well to BG Fuller who has been selected to head up Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to the Government of Afghanistan.
We received a letter last week from a reader criticizing our coverage of the Army’s Family of Patterns effort. First off, it is important that you know that the author is involved commercially in the development of camouflage patterns. It is also important that SSD readers realize that we are in no way affiliated with the US Government and do not represent the views of the military but rather function as a news outlet serving the tactical industry. While we appreciate the time it obviously took to craft this letter, it seems as if the writer is expecting SSD to explain Army decisions. Since we are in no way involved in the acquisition process this is impossible. However, we will do our best to address the concerns of this writer from our perspective, based on our attendance at Industry Day and our interaction with Government and industry over the past few years. Hopefully, this article will help to expand your understanding of the upcoming Family of Patterns solicitation to be released later this week. Due to the length of the letter please read the rest of the story. (more…)
