KDH Awarded Army’s Plate Carrier Contract
October 8th, 2009 | Contracts | Posted by Rob Curtis
We just heard that the Army awarded their 57,000 plate carrier contract to KDH. We aren’t sure how the lighter, better performing options were discarded in favor of KDH’s package that uses vanilla IOTV armor panels. But, we guess it had something to do with the company being located in Johnstown, PA. That’s Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District, home to Rep. John Murtha chairman of House Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee and one of the not-so-mysteriously best-funded little airports in the country. It’s going to be interesting to see how a small business that is already subcontracting out the work on their existing body armor contracts is going to pull this off.
Archangel Armor Update
October 5th, 2009 | Product Announcement | Posted by Rob Curtis
We caught up with Archangel Armor to see what updates they’ve made to their loadbearing body armor system. Archangel President Paul Carter says they’re up to version 3.51 and have modified the cut of the rear panel to allow a little more room when going prone and are reworking the quick release system, making it simpler and lighter.
The system was shown with an Eagle plate carrier mounted, but they also had a set with a standard IOTV mounted without modification. So, it seems units that want to transition to loadbearing body armor can do so with their current armor packages when the Archangel system hits the market. Still no word on availability, but momentum is continuing to build behind the scenes.
Archangel is going to participate in a study next week that will help determine how much weight is transferred where when the system is used. While everyone that has tried the system on agrees it feels much better, there hasn’t been a way to quantify the benefit. So, getting some numbers and science behind their product should help move things along.
Hit the Jump for a few more photos. Read the rest of this entry »
Army Bids Out 57k Plate Carriers
September 16th, 2009 | Contracts Programatics | Posted by Rob Curtis
Army Lt. Col. Robert W. Myles Jr. Product Manager Soldier Survivability talks about the latest technology in protective vests in May, 2009. Tom Brown/Army Times Staff
The US Army is soliciting bids for 57,000 armor plate carriers in various sizes. Here are some bullets from the RFQ that came down late last week.
- total contract delivery date of 2/28/2010
- provide soft ballistic protection equal to the current IOTV
- be compatible with ESAPI, XSAPI, ESBI requirements
- size medium with soft ballistic panels must weigh less than 9 pounds
- 30 second don/doff time
- come in Army UCP
- have MOLLE/PALS webbing on front and back
- have a drag strap
SOCOM Hits Pause on MICH Improvements
February 4th, 2009 | Contracts | Posted by Rob Curtis
A few months back USSOCOM and Natick started looking for an improved MICH helmet. Well, they turned the lights out on that solicitation in early January.
USSOCOM wanted to provide operators with two new versions of the MICH shell- “MICH-Standard” would have been lighter and more configurable than the current version with the same ballistic protection level, and “MICH Enhanced” that would have added improved protection against 7.62 x 39mm PS ball over the MICH-Standard.
UPDATE: Turns out that Natick pulled the solicitaion so they could talk to vendors at Shot Show without running afoul of some acquisition laws…
Load Bearing Body Armor Takes the Weight Off Your Shoulders
October 6th, 2008 | Product Announcement | Posted by Rob Curtis
Archangel Armor in conjunction with Mystery Ranch has made a set of body armor that uses the load bearing design of a backpack to carry the weight of ballistic panels and plates that will have you tossing your old IBA like a bad mag on qualification day.
Imagine putting on the rear portion of your body armor like a backpack with a waistbelt, then snapping the front panel to it with four beefy Cobra QR buckles.
Want to ditch the panels and go slick? Pull the plate carriers from the panels and snap them in using those QR buckles. If you dump the whole kit using the QRs, just snap them back together. You won’t be sitting on the deck for 20 minutes weaving cables to get your gear back in fighting form.
The designer, Paul Carter, says the kit is comparable in weight and cost to the current US Army IOTV setup. If you’ve got 2 minutes, press play and watch a show floor demo video.