About two years ago, Leatherman was approached by two SFCs from the Army Marksmanship Unit at Ft Benning about creating a tool for everyday utility use in addition to weapons maintenance. During the two-year development period, they tested (in Iraq and Afghanistan and bases here in the US) and refined the tool with the official unveiling of the resulting Military Utility Tool at this year’s SHOT show. The product that Leatherman developed is available in both Utility and EOD models. Other than intended use, the major differences between the two are inclusion of a blasting cap crimper and C4 punch (replaces weapons punch) on the EOD model. Obviously, the Utility MUT will suffice for the vast majority of users and that is one of the things that really attracts me to the MUT. It is designed for use by Military, LE, as well as civilian shooters. As you can see from the brochure from Leatherman, a lot of thought went into the development of the MUT.
I had a chance to handle a MUT last week and some of the features that really stick out for me are the bolt override tool, the inclusion of a wrench that ingeniously stores in the sheath’s MOLLE webbing, the replaceable bronze scraping tool for removing carbon buildup from the weapon, and compatibility with OTIS cleaning kit tool heads. This video gives you a great idea of how the MUT works. This is the EOD variant so the remember that the EOD-specific tools will not be on the Utility model.
The MUT is made in the USA and comes with a MOLLE compatible sheath in Coyote. If there is any drawback to the MUT it is that it is not available in FDE. Black is just so passe. I am really looking forward to this hitting the street later this summer as it offers a couple of features not found anywhere else.
