thedrifter
10-21-07, 08:59 PM
The gear of tomorrow, today
By John Hoellwarth - jhoellwarth@militarytimes.com
Posted : October 29, 2007
Who needs Santa when you’ve got Marine Corps Systems Command?
Coming soon, hot off the distribution line, are 10 new goodies for Marines fighting the good fight. From new backpacks for snipers to new handgrips for everyone, the Corps’ new gear grab bag looks like a collision between cash sales and commando.
1. Headborne integration system
The research and development wizards at SysCom are testing a lightweight helmet that combines a face shield, hearing and lower mandible protection, night-vision goggles and a hands-free light into something that loosely resembles what you might need to race motocross and go caving at the same time.
SysCom spokeswoman 1st Lt. Geraldine Carey said the Corps is conducting market research on what’s available and how best to marry them to the current lightweight helmet. The program manager for infantry combat equipment plans to test “commercial off-the-shelf designs” and procure them incrementally on a timetable that hasn’t yet been set in stone, she said.
2. Flame-resistant fleece
The current fleece pullover issued to Marines in cold environments may keep them warm, but it’s not the kind of garment they should wear near an open flame, or in a burning Humvee for that matter.That’s why SysCom officials met with industry representatives in early 2007 to identify a fire-resistant replacement.
Carey said InSport, the Beaverton, Ore., company tapped to produce the Corps’ much-anticipated running suit, was awarded the contract and is expected to begin delivering them by the end of 2007.
Once the pullovers arrive, the Corps will send them to the Marines fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, she said.
3. Three-season sleeping bag
The new sleeping bag is going to be smaller and lighter, and the two-piece system Marines have now will become the interim “arctic bag” until a new one is developed, Carey said.
SysCom is putting the new bag through tests that will continue into November, with a second round of tests scheduled for March and April, Carey said.
After the tests are complete, SysCom will ask industry reps to submit their proposals and will then select the new three-season bag, she said.
4. Personal illumination system
The “angle head” flashlight Marines are taught to call a “moon beam” has been in use since 1942, and it’s time for SysCom to give Marines something that will “take advantage of technology and manufacturing improvements accrued over the last 64 years,” Carey said.
The intent is for the new flashlight to “maintain the same general performance characteristics,” but the requirements will come out of a limited user evaluation scheduled to determine what Marines want.
“Quantities, requirements and fielding plans will be determined after testing and evaluation are complete,” Carey said.
5. Sniper weapon concealment system
When only one of the Marines fast-roping out of the helicopter is carrying a distinctive bolt-action rifle, it’s not hard to pick out the sniper.
Last March, SysCom tapped Eberlestock High Performance Gear of Boise, Idaho, to supply The Gunslinger, a 2,900-cubic-inch assault pack with an integrated weapons carriage pocket, designed to conceal and protect a sniper’s rifle during insertion and extraction, Carey said.
About 200 of them have been fielded to the forward element of II Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq, Carey said.
6. Permanent issue replacement
The standard seabag hasn’t changed much since the invention of wheeled luggage, until now.
Enter the permanent issue replacement, a sort of seabag-suitcase hybrid intended to replace one of the two seabags each Marine is issued during recruit training.
SysCom is working on lab testing and a field-user evaluation on bags “from various manufacturers,” scheduled to be completed early next year, Carey said.
7. Grip pod
You’ve seen a forward grip mounted below the hand guards of an M16 service rifle and on the shorter M4, but how about a grip with a hidden bipod that springs into place at the push of a button?
The purpose of the “grip pod” is to provide infantry Marines “a vertical fore-grip that possesses folding, extendable, removable bipods,” Carey said.
More than 75,000 soldiers and Marines already have them and squad automatic weapon gunners will soon have a custom-made grip pod with light and sturdy aluminum legs to replace the polymer-and-steel legs that come standard on the Corps’ light machine gun.
8. M35 medium machine gun vehicle mount
The M240B medium machine gun packs more punch than the M249 squad automatic weapon and isn’t nearly as bulky or cumbersome as the .50-caliber M2 normally used with military vehicle turrets, which makes it “the weapon of choice for convoy operations in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Carey said.
But attaching the 240B to vehicles outfitted for the larger weapon is problematic, so SysCom last month ordered 3,900 medium machine gun vehicle mounts from Nashville, Tenn.-based Military Systems Group Inc., Carey said.
She said the Corps will take delivery of the mounts in the coming weeks with plans to begin fielding them in December starting with combat-deployed units.
Fielding throughout the rest of the Corps is not scheduled to be complete until December 2008, she said.
9. Breacher’s kit
Acting on a suggestion from a corporal assigned to the School of Infantry at Camp Lejeune, N.C., SysCom is working to field a new breacher’s kit that will include lock-pulling tools to help pry doors open, deflate tires, break windows, and pick and remove locks, Carey said.
She said the new “easily carried, versatile” kit “may be extremely useful for missions requiring breaching support in small confined areas where normal-size equipment is ineffective.”
“Testing will finish later [this fiscal], at which time the requirements will be determined,” she said.
10. Mortars
Anyone who has marched with a mortar base plate on their back knows the current 60mm mortar system, which weighs in at 45.26 pounds, is about as much fun to hump as it is to, say, polish. But relief is on the way.
SysCom is working on a limited user evaluation of a new 60mm mortar system that weighs in at 35.8 pounds, nearly 10 pounds less than the current option.
The new mortar system is also easier to manufacture and maintain, which will “reduce overall lifecycle costs by 40 to 50 percent,” Carey said.
SysCom expects to award a contract before the end of the year, with fielding scheduled to begin in fiscal 2010.
Ellie
By John Hoellwarth - jhoellwarth@militarytimes.com
Posted : October 29, 2007
Who needs Santa when you’ve got Marine Corps Systems Command?
Coming soon, hot off the distribution line, are 10 new goodies for Marines fighting the good fight. From new backpacks for snipers to new handgrips for everyone, the Corps’ new gear grab bag looks like a collision between cash sales and commando.
1. Headborne integration system
The research and development wizards at SysCom are testing a lightweight helmet that combines a face shield, hearing and lower mandible protection, night-vision goggles and a hands-free light into something that loosely resembles what you might need to race motocross and go caving at the same time.
SysCom spokeswoman 1st Lt. Geraldine Carey said the Corps is conducting market research on what’s available and how best to marry them to the current lightweight helmet. The program manager for infantry combat equipment plans to test “commercial off-the-shelf designs” and procure them incrementally on a timetable that hasn’t yet been set in stone, she said.
2. Flame-resistant fleece
The current fleece pullover issued to Marines in cold environments may keep them warm, but it’s not the kind of garment they should wear near an open flame, or in a burning Humvee for that matter.That’s why SysCom officials met with industry representatives in early 2007 to identify a fire-resistant replacement.
Carey said InSport, the Beaverton, Ore., company tapped to produce the Corps’ much-anticipated running suit, was awarded the contract and is expected to begin delivering them by the end of 2007.
Once the pullovers arrive, the Corps will send them to the Marines fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, she said.
3. Three-season sleeping bag
The new sleeping bag is going to be smaller and lighter, and the two-piece system Marines have now will become the interim “arctic bag” until a new one is developed, Carey said.
SysCom is putting the new bag through tests that will continue into November, with a second round of tests scheduled for March and April, Carey said.
After the tests are complete, SysCom will ask industry reps to submit their proposals and will then select the new three-season bag, she said.
4. Personal illumination system
The “angle head” flashlight Marines are taught to call a “moon beam” has been in use since 1942, and it’s time for SysCom to give Marines something that will “take advantage of technology and manufacturing improvements accrued over the last 64 years,” Carey said.
The intent is for the new flashlight to “maintain the same general performance characteristics,” but the requirements will come out of a limited user evaluation scheduled to determine what Marines want.
“Quantities, requirements and fielding plans will be determined after testing and evaluation are complete,” Carey said.
5. Sniper weapon concealment system
When only one of the Marines fast-roping out of the helicopter is carrying a distinctive bolt-action rifle, it’s not hard to pick out the sniper.
Last March, SysCom tapped Eberlestock High Performance Gear of Boise, Idaho, to supply The Gunslinger, a 2,900-cubic-inch assault pack with an integrated weapons carriage pocket, designed to conceal and protect a sniper’s rifle during insertion and extraction, Carey said.
About 200 of them have been fielded to the forward element of II Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq, Carey said.
6. Permanent issue replacement
The standard seabag hasn’t changed much since the invention of wheeled luggage, until now.
Enter the permanent issue replacement, a sort of seabag-suitcase hybrid intended to replace one of the two seabags each Marine is issued during recruit training.
SysCom is working on lab testing and a field-user evaluation on bags “from various manufacturers,” scheduled to be completed early next year, Carey said.
7. Grip pod
You’ve seen a forward grip mounted below the hand guards of an M16 service rifle and on the shorter M4, but how about a grip with a hidden bipod that springs into place at the push of a button?
The purpose of the “grip pod” is to provide infantry Marines “a vertical fore-grip that possesses folding, extendable, removable bipods,” Carey said.
More than 75,000 soldiers and Marines already have them and squad automatic weapon gunners will soon have a custom-made grip pod with light and sturdy aluminum legs to replace the polymer-and-steel legs that come standard on the Corps’ light machine gun.
8. M35 medium machine gun vehicle mount
The M240B medium machine gun packs more punch than the M249 squad automatic weapon and isn’t nearly as bulky or cumbersome as the .50-caliber M2 normally used with military vehicle turrets, which makes it “the weapon of choice for convoy operations in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Carey said.
But attaching the 240B to vehicles outfitted for the larger weapon is problematic, so SysCom last month ordered 3,900 medium machine gun vehicle mounts from Nashville, Tenn.-based Military Systems Group Inc., Carey said.
She said the Corps will take delivery of the mounts in the coming weeks with plans to begin fielding them in December starting with combat-deployed units.
Fielding throughout the rest of the Corps is not scheduled to be complete until December 2008, she said.
9. Breacher’s kit
Acting on a suggestion from a corporal assigned to the School of Infantry at Camp Lejeune, N.C., SysCom is working to field a new breacher’s kit that will include lock-pulling tools to help pry doors open, deflate tires, break windows, and pick and remove locks, Carey said.
She said the new “easily carried, versatile” kit “may be extremely useful for missions requiring breaching support in small confined areas where normal-size equipment is ineffective.”
“Testing will finish later [this fiscal], at which time the requirements will be determined,” she said.
10. Mortars
Anyone who has marched with a mortar base plate on their back knows the current 60mm mortar system, which weighs in at 45.26 pounds, is about as much fun to hump as it is to, say, polish. But relief is on the way.
SysCom is working on a limited user evaluation of a new 60mm mortar system that weighs in at 35.8 pounds, nearly 10 pounds less than the current option.
The new mortar system is also easier to manufacture and maintain, which will “reduce overall lifecycle costs by 40 to 50 percent,” Carey said.
SysCom expects to award a contract before the end of the year, with fielding scheduled to begin in fiscal 2010.
Ellie