Army not impressed with Corps’ new vest

[thedrifter]

October 27, 2006

Army not impressed with Corps’ new vest

By Matthew Cox and Gordon Lubold
Staff writers

Marines will soon get a new armored vest, but the Army says it isn’t good enough to replace the Interceptor.

The Marine Corps recently released the first details of its new vest, known as the Modular Tactical Vest after Commandant Gen. Mike gave it the final nod Oct. 19.

Corps officials said the MTV — which Marines will start wearing in February — is more comfortable, offers more areas of protection from bullets and shrapnel, and distributes the load better.

But Army officials are not as impressed.

The new vest may be more comfortable, but it’s also 2 pounds heavier than the Interceptor and does not offer superior ballistic protection, said Col. Mark Conley, director of maneuver, soldier and sustainment systems for the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisitions, logistics and technology.


The MTV and the Interceptor “are equal in the ballistic protection they provide for the soldier,” he said. “If it [provided] more protection, we would probably be doing it.”

Marine officials said the extra weight is offset by an improved weight distribution system. And when you consider that the MTV offers far more side protection than the old Marine version of the Interceptor system, the extra weight is worth it, said Capt. Jeff Landis, a spokesman for Marine Corps Systems Command at Quantico, Va. The vest alone weighs about 10 pounds. Plates typically add about 18 pounds.

Since adopting the Interceptor in the late 1990s, the Army has made several design changes to include more side protection.

The Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier has monitored the Marine’s MTV development since it began in December.

For soldiers, PEO Soldier and the Infantry Center have been working on the Next Generation Body Armor program designed to produce an eventual replacement for the Interceptor.

In August, the Infantry Center held the “Soldier Protection Demonstration,” which featured soldiers, both with and without combat experience, evaluating six next-generation prototypes, Conley said.

Combat veterans preferred the current Army vest over any of the six alternatives they tried, he said. The MTV was not among the six vests evaluated.

The Army plans to make improvements to the Interceptor design in 2007, including a “cut-away” feature similar to the MTV’s quick release, to allow medics quicker access to wounded soldiers, Conley said.

“The Army’s always looking at ways to make the protection equipment better,” Conley said. “That’s the number one goal.”

Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 27, 2006

Armor to suit
Custom-fit system will cover more, weigh less than current gear

By Matthew Cox
Staff writer

Soldiers and Army scientists are testing a new system of body armor that can be custom-fitted to each individual.

The vest is built on a sleek, armored chassis designed to make heavy combat loads easier to carry while providing soldiers with more ballistic protection in a lighter package. It has special channels on the inside to allow air to circulate and heat to escape, and it will cover 18 percent more of the soldier’s body.

In addition to the vest, there’s also a better-fitting, more comfortable ballistic helmet that comes with built-in, flip-down eye protection.

The research and development of the vest is part of the Army’s Future Force Warrior program, an Advanced Technology Demonstration designed to test new technologies in soldier equipment for fielding in 2010.

The body armor is just one part of the program that will eventually include an onboard computer network of high-tech communications gear, weapons with digital fire control systems and light-weight power sources.

The system is designed to be radically more functional than the current Interceptor body armor, said Philip Brandler, director of the Army’s Soldier Systems Center at Nadick, Mass.

“The days when we had a simple ballistic component that a soldier put on are probably past,” he said. “We are going to be moving into situations where … the body armor system basically performs multiple functions.”

Brandler said soldiers are already testing detailed prototypes of the armored, load-bearing chassis and helmet.

The Army has made great strides in body armor technology since the Vietnam War, when soldiers wore “flak vests” that weighed 25 pounds.

The current Interceptor Outer Tactical Vest and its two ballistic armor plates offer far greater protection and weigh about 16 pounds. But the constantly changing tactics of insurgent forces in Iraq have forced the Army to make improvements increasing the Interceptor’s weight.

Soft armor shoulder and side protection, known as the Deltoid Axillary Protector, and enhanced front, rear and even side ballistic plates for improved protection against rifle rounds have brought a soldier’s protective load up to 31 pounds.

Add that to combat gear and ammunition, and combat troops are having a harder time hopping over walls, searching house after house and moving under enemy fire, according to both Army and Marine Corps officials.

“The Interceptor OTV was never designed to carry the weight that’s being carried today,” said Daniel Fitzgerald of Marine Corps Systems Command at a May 24 armor conference in Washington, D.C.

Brandler agreed, adding that soldiers often go into combat with too much gear on their backs.

“The problem is, 120 pounds of lightweight equipment still weighs 120 pounds,” he said.

More coverage, less weight

Natick officials hope to use nano-technology to reduce the weight in the new armor chassis. The goal is to develop a prototype, which includes an armored chassis vest, two plates and a waist belt, that weighs about 20 pounds.

High-performance polymers and advanced ceramics and metals under study will increase the toughness of the material without a significant increase in weight, Brandler hopes.

“What we are looking for is to have the material that can produce lightweight ceramics” that can be formed into complex shapes to cover more body area, Brandler said.

The plates in the new vest will be designed to provide 18 percent more coverage area, front and back, than the current plates. The padded waist belt, separate from the vest, should provide additional ballistic coverage, Brandler said.

The new vest would also fit better than the current one. A series of 11 pads will allow soldiers, both male and female, to customize the rigid vest to their particular body shape.

The pads come in different sizes and can be attached to various places inside the walls of the vest to ensure it fits snugly to the body.

This helps reduce “back-face deformation” injuries from the impact of a projectile, Brandler said, because the pads, not the body, will absorb the projectile’s force.

Inside the vest, special channels allow air to circulate, unlike the Interceptor, which is worn tight against the body. This “passive cooling” design should keep soldiers about 25 percent cooler, Brandler said. There is no fielding date set, Natick officials said, but the program is scheduled to transition over to Program Executive Office Soldier by 2008. Final development and operational testing would come later.

But, so far, so good, he said.

Testers are “combat veterans in many cases,” helping to test both the new vest and helmet prototypes, Brandler said

Nineteen soldiers in the Special Forces Qualification Course particpated in the October 2004 testing. They wore the prototypes while performing such tasks as running, climbing and shooting.

Despite the new vest’s more rigid design, soldiers wearing the vests were pleased with their ease of movement on the obstacle course, Brandler said. And they were in “unanimous” approval of the new flip-up eye protection, he said.

“It’s not a done deal, but ... we don’t expect the final production [version] will look radically different.”

Best of the vest

• Rigid design keeps ballistic protection away from the body, eliminating injuries when incoming projectiles strike the vest.

• Special channels molded to the vest’s interior help air circulate and keep the soldier cooler.

• Designed as a true “load-carrier” to more effectively distribute heavy combat loads.

• Includes 11 sizing pads that attach to the inside of the vest to ensure soldiers, both male and female, can custom fit the armored chassis to their individual body type.

• Camelbak-style hydration system integrated into vest’s design.

Ellie

This is