TYR Tactical

Posts Tagged ‘Gentex’

Warrior West – Ops-Core Superwide Ballistic Side Armor

Thursday, April 20th, 2017

The new Superwide Ballistic Side Armor attaches to the ARC Rail and gives you plenty of room for ear pro.

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www.ops-core.com

Visit Gentex at Warrior West

Tuesday, April 18th, 2017

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Aegisound Custom Earplugs Outperform Foam Earplugs in Virginia Tech Study

Thursday, April 13th, 2017

Findings confirm custom earplugs are significantly better at preventing hearing loss for military

Carbondale, PA, April 12, 2017. Gentex Corporation, a global leader in personal protection and situational awareness solutions for defense forces, emergency responders, and industrial personnel announced today findings from an independent study conducted by Virginia Tech Auditory Systems Laboratory regarding its Aegisound CTE30X custom earplugs. The study, funded by the Office of Naval Research, found the custom earplugs significantly outperformed the foam earplugs used in the testing.

Researchers at Virginia Tech examined the performance of commonly used roll-down foam earplugs and Aegisound custom-molded earplugs without training, with training, and 21 days after training. The custom plugs outperformed the foam plugs under all test conditions, and were preferred by the test subjects for ease of use, quickness of fit, and relative confidence in hearing protection offered. One of the most notable outcomes of the study was that the attenuation performance of the custom plugs did not degrade after training, 21 days later, whereas the foam earplugs did. This data point illustrates that foam plugs can be difficult to use reliably, whereas custom plugs offer consistent performance over time.

“Our Aegisound products provide precise intelligible communications and long-term hearing health for military personnel on flight decks and flight lines where some of the loudest occupational noise environments exist,” said L.P. Frieder, president, Gentex Corporation. “This recent study by Virginia Tech validates these and other benefits of choosing custom molded earplugs over foam.”

For Aegisound custom fit hearing protection products, custom ear canal molds are digitally manufactured to exacting standards, which allow the earplug to precisely fit the ear canal to achieve optimal comfort and superior hearing protection in extreme noise (105 to 150 dB(A)), such as those found in military and industrial environments.

John G. Casali, Ph.D., CPE, and Kichol Lee, Ph.D. of Virginia Tech presented findings from their study at the National Hearing Conservation Association’s annual conference on February 24, 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. View the full presentation at this link.

www.gentexcorp.com

See Ops-Core & Gentex at the ADS Emerald Coast Warfighter Expo

Tuesday, March 7th, 2017

FirstSpear Range Day – Gentex/Ops-Core

Monday, January 16th, 2017

To the left is the Gentex TBH-II MC (Mission Configured) and to the right is the Ops-Core FAST MT (Maritime).  I wanted to give you a little information to help guide those making helmet purchases.


From any angle, they look the same.  Both have the same shape, same suspension system, and same accessories. However, the TBH-II is an aramid ballistic solution and the FAST relies on a Polyethylene solution.  The TBH-II offers 9mm protection at 1400 fps and the FAST offers 9mm protection at 1200 fps, so fairly similar balllistics.  The real differences are in weight and cost.  The TBH-II weighs in at about 2.5 lbs while the FAST helmet is 1.5 lbs, both as configured. Now is the biggest factor for many agencies; the TBH-II is $599 and the FAST is in the $1400-1500 range.  

If you’re looking for mission configurability, and the cool guy factor, but are willing to accept higher weight, then you may want to consider the Gentex TBH-II MC.  

Gentex/Ops-Core To Exhibit at SHOT Show

Thursday, January 12th, 2017

Ops-Core Special Operations Tactical Respirator

Monday, January 9th, 2017

There was a time when helmets were only worn by SOF for airborne operations. Now, it’s standard practice to wear both helmet and body armor in both live-fire training as well as operations. Similarly, when I joined the Army in the mid-80s, the only eye pro were crappy Sun, Wind and Dust Goggles. By the late-90s, effective eye protective glasses and goggles were standard issue and wear in garrison, as well as deployed. The same can be said for active hearing protection. While it’s still not universal, most service members have access to hearing protection with active noise reduction features in addition to their ear plugs. We’ve adapted to the realities of the threat environment and driven technology solutions to the point of protecting head, eyes and ears. Now it’s time to get serious about protecting our service members’ respiratory system.

I first saw the Special Operations Tactical Respirator in the Gentex booth at Warrior West and was immediately impressed. There is no active requirement for this product. Gentex saw an unstated need and spent internal R&D Dollars to create a solution. I have a lot of friends with heavy metal poisoning from years of operating in threat environments as well as training in shoot houses. You’ll pick up a lot of lead just breathing during training, but being deployed exposes folks to a lot of residual, environmental threats as well. In the case of heavy metals, they collect in your body and left untreated, poison for the rest of your life. Naturally, it’s best to avoid altogether, or at least mitigate exposure. That’s where the SOTR comes in.

Adapted from technology created for use in the F-35 Lightning II Program (also known as the Joint Strike Fighter Program) and leveraging over 35 years of other experience in the development of oxygen masks and CBRN equipment for aircrew and aircraft maintainers, Gentex Corporation designed its first respirator for ground applications, the Ops-Core Special Operations Tactical Respirator (SOTR). The new half-mask respirator will provide protection against a wide range of oil and non-oil based particulate contaminants encountered by Special Operations Forces, tactical operators or specialized law enforcement officers.

The half-mask respirator filter offers at least 99.7% filtration efficiency against airborne particulates including lead, asbestos, lubricant mist, and explosive gunfire residue. If it catches on, I can see future development of a filter for use against riot control agents and even CBRN threats for in-extremis use.

Key customer input driving the development of the respirator was that existing respiratory masks were excessive for the current threats they faced and that they did not integrate well with helmets or weapons systems. Employing their streamlined systems approach to design, Ops-Core developed the new respirator to provide protection without interfering with operator’s tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP), and to seamlessly interface with weapon systems for optimal effectiveness.

Other key features of the low profile half-mask respirator include a microphone, compatibility with standard ground communications headsets, two exhalation valves for easier breathing, easy-to-adjust suspension straps for both helmet worn and helmetless wear, a flexible and lightweight silicone face piece to enable fit to a large variety of facial types, front mounted inhalation valve and cartridge ports for enhanced field-of-vision, and a quick, one-handed filter change. In addition to the strap seen here for stand-alone use, the SOTR will also attach to the FAST helmet in a similar fashion to the O2 mask used for MFF parachuting operations.

Available in early 2017, the Ops-Core Special Operations Tactical Respirator was developed at the company’s facility in Rancho Cucamonga, California, which is dedicated to the research, development, and manufacture of respiratory protective products for military and law enforcement professionals.

www.ops-core.com

Visit Gentex & Ops-Core at SHOT Show

Wednesday, January 4th, 2017