These slides are from the recent Soldier Protection System – Torso and Extremity Protection meeting with industry. It provides some background on the program as well the individual components. This is not the full slide deck. We left out several administrative slides which were not germane to educating our readers about SPS – TEP.
Initially, the Army plans to give two companies contracts to produce TEP. Its TDP is owned by the government and they will buy about 5,100 units at first. Eventually, the contract could go to over 36,000 systems.
It looks like the BOIP includes two Ballistic Combat Shirts for each system although with integrated armor, we are unsure if it is removable or how they will be laundered if it is not. Then, there’s the whole “shirt with integrated armor during a waterborne operations” issue that will eventually emerge.
Finally, although the images feature a helmet, this compotent of SPS has not yet been announced.
