Granite Tactial Gear Wins With CHIEF Patrol

Knowing that nothing sells to the military like an impressive string of letters, the folks at Granite Gear came up with a new pack that is as sturdy as its acronym. The Composite Hybrid Interchangeable Ergonomic Framesheet (C.H.I.E.F.) uses a 3D-molded framesheet with three distinct zones of flexibility. That sounds good, but what counts is what happens when the designers load it with 100 pounds and toss it off a 35-foot railroad trestle onto the ground to test it out.

Nothing happened.

In order to win the patrol-pack portion of the SOCOM BALCS competition, the 5500-cube Chief Patrol was designed to weigh in under 7 pounds while carrying up to 90-plus pounds comfortably while in body armor. Some testing lead to the tweaking of the harness connection point, the addition of an ITW Nexis Snapdragon break-away sternum-strap connector and the direction of the zippers. The pack also sports removable shoulder-strap padding that gives soldiers better flexibility while wearing body armor. It also rides surprisingly low for a pack this large, allowing decent helmet clearance while standing or prone. It also has an internal radio pocket, a bottom-exiting hydration port arrangement, top-mounted haul loops and offers top or front access. Pricing isn’t fixed yet but should be under $500 when they are available in late fall, 2009.

More pics of the Chief Patrol and a peek at the new Bloc Solid Compression Bags after the break.

Granite Gear’s new military specific BlocSolid square compressable packing cubes offer a little heavier fabric than their commercial sacks and are square. They pack better and fit into the spaces in your ruck and baggage better than older round models. They’ll come in military specific colors and mutlicam later this summer.