While not a wholesale of TenCate’s fabric solutions, or of FR in general, two recent Canadian procurements will result in the use of TenCate fabrics by Canadian troops.
First, the Advance Combat Ensemble (ACE) used by the Canadian Air Force will be manufactured with Nomex FR fabric from TenCate’s Brigade product portfolio. Additionally, new tents will incorprate the Nomex-based TenCate Campshield FR liner fabric.
Australia is purchasing an additional 10,000 Operational Combat Uniforms. These “test” items will be manufactured from TenCate’s 6.5 oz Defender M fabric. This is the improved fabric used by the US Army and Marine Corps rather than than the earlier fabric used in the first run of ODUs. The ODU is essentially a Crye Precision combat uniform. Apparently, someone at Department of Defence has determined that there is a need for FR protection for the Australian Soldier.
Photo: ABIS Jo Dilorenzo, 1st Joint Public Affairs Unit, Australia DoD
Security Scholar, an Australian defense blog has been keeping tabs on the Australian adoption of Crye Precision’s technology in the form of uniform designs (Operational Combat Uniform) and the adaption of the MultiCam pattern for their use in a similar fashion to the British Multi Terrain Pattern. As you will recall, MTP is a melding of Crye’s technology with the long-serving Woodland Disruptive Pattern Material design.
Photo: Commonwealth of Australia, 1st Joint Public Affairs Unit, PO Damian Pawlenko
We can verify that the new Australian MultiCam Pattern will, just like the original use 7 layers of color and that Black is not one of them. Testing has shown these colors to work well in the homeland.
Last month, the Crye issue became politicized in Australia when the opposition party tried to make so much hay out of reports from troops deployed in Afghanistan that their OCUs were falling apart. One politico even went so far as to make the outrageous claim that if the uniforms had been manufactured by an Australian company rather than an American one they would not have been “shoddy.” While the intent was ridiculous, he may have been right considering that, previous uniforms were not FR at all. Now, for the first time, Australian ground troops have FR protection with the Crye uniforms and are better protected. Unfortunately, that is also the culprit behind the prematurely worn uniforms. It seems, the Australians specified an older blend of TenCate’s Defender-M fabric. A newer version with twice the tear strength has been in use by the US Marine Corps for well over a year and for the last few months by the US Army. Hopefully, the Australians will transition to the new fabric. However, according to the Security Scholar report, “Army Headquarters has tasked the Defence Science and Technology Organisation to analyse the use of flame retardant materials in combat uniforms to determine if there is an operational need for these types of fabrics.” At this point, the Australians aren’t even sure if they want their troops to have FR protection.
Read the securityscholar.wordpress.com report to learn more.
This is Propper International’s version of the Army Combat Pant. It is made from 3 different TenCate FR fabrics including a heavier duty seat reinforcement as well as the stretch panels around the knees and above the seat. One distinct difference we know that the Propper version has from Crye’s offering is a zippered fly rather buttons. Additionally, the button at closure at the top is located on the front flap rather than the rear and buttons into a fully enclosed hole.
Here you can see the reinforced rear.
The Propper pant utilizes Cry’s proprietary kneepad design.
The kneepad is removable and and the pant features an internal flap that plugs the hole from the inside when the kneepad is not worn.
The pant leg incorporates several cloth adjustable take up tabs.
The height of the kneepad is also adjustable via an internal shockcord that is held in place via a barrel lock contained in the external upperthigh pockets.
Here you can see the low profile take up tabs on the sides of the nonpadded waist band.
Word is that Crye Precision, Massif and Propper International will face off for the final contract for the Army Combat Pant.
“Threads” is a clothing and equipment newsletter published by the Australian Department of Defence for industry. It is a great resource for keeping up with the latest in Australian initiatives. One interesting article confirms that the Australians are going to domestically manufacture their recently adopted Operational Combat Uniforms consisting of consists of four different garments: Field Shirt, Field Pants, Combat Shirt and Combat Pants designed by Crye Precision. The article also verifies that these will be printed in a new Australian variant of the MultiCam pattern. Hopefully, these will be manufactured from the latest version of TenCate’s FR Defender-M fabric rather than going back to the non-FR twill that some in Australia’s opposition political party have called for after some durability issues were noted with an older version of Defender-M. This new fabric adopted last year by the USMC and recently by the US Army features twice the tear strength of the version used in the last round of OCUs.
For the access to full library visit www.defence.gov.au/dmo/news/threads/.
We’ve mentioned it exists and here’s a shot of the new MARPAT-Woodland variant of FROG.
It’s made from TenCate’s latest Defender-M twill fabric that offers twice the tear strength of the material used just 14 months ago.
We recently posted a photo of the new Dutch camouflage pattern. Now, our friends at LEAFGEARhave posted several photos of the new proposed barracks dress in the woodland pattern on their Facebook wall. While not definitive, it gives you an idea of what it will look like out in the wild. Offered by COBBS Industries, the garments are manufactured by NFM who used the design of their Combat Jacket from the GARM line. We are HUGE fans of the NFM stuff, some of which will be brought into the US this fall by FirstSpear. Add in fabric provided by TenCate and you have to consider how exciting it is to see so many European companies working together to make this happen.
According to several internet postings, the accompanying pictures is reportedly of a new camouflage pattern and uniform for the Dutch Army.
Unveiled at a recent Army shooting competition, the garrison and field variants are reportedly to see fielding beginning in 2014 as an extension of the Soldier Modernization Program (in Dutch, VOSS for the English Improved Operational Soldier System). It is anticipated that this variant, intended for woodland and urban environments, will not see any further alteration. The pattern is of the so-called fractal design, which uses patterns within patterns. Additionally, there is an arid pattern under development. As you can see, the Soldiers are in front of a TenCate sign. According to reporting, the uniforms are made from TenCate’s Defender-M fabric, which is the same fabric story as the Army’s FR ACU and USMC’s FROG.
